Spatial Antenna Diversity Techniques

ABSTRACT

Embodiments disclosed herein include headphone devices with spatially diverse antennas employing multiple operational modes and antenna switching policies. The headphone device may identify a current mode of operation and wirelessly communicate with at least one external device based at least in part on the current mode of operation. Further, operating in a first mode of operation, the headphone device may cause switching circuitry to selectively couple a first antenna to the common port in accordance with a first antenna switching policy. While operating in the second mode of operation, the headphone device may cause circuitry to selectively couple a second antenna to the common port in accordance with a second antenna switching policy that is different from the first antenna switching policy.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S. Pat.Application No. 17/243,054 filed on Apr. 28, 2021, which claims priorityto and is a continuation of U.S. Pat. Application No. 16/844,682, nowU.S. Pat. No. 10,998,615, filed on Apr. 9, 2020, each of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

U.S. Pat. Application No 16/844,682 claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPat. Application No. 62/833,373, filed on Apr. 12, 2019, titled “CABLEASSMEBLY FOR HEADPHONES,” and U.S. Provisional Pat. Application No.62/883,535, filed on Aug. 6, 2019, titled “SPATIAL ANTENNA DIVERSITYTECHNIQUES FOR HEADPHONE DEVICES,” each of which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is related to consumer goods and, moreparticularly, to methods, systems, products, features, services, andother elements directed to media playback or some aspect thereof.

BACKGROUND

Options for accessing and listening to digital audio were limited untilin 2002, when SONOS, Inc. began development of a new type of playbacksystem. Sonos then filed one of its first patent applications in 2003,entitled “Method for Synchronizing Audio Playback between MultipleNetworked Devices,” and began offering its first media playback systemsfor sale in 2005. The Sonos Wireless Home Sound System enables people toexperience music from many sources via one or more networked playbackdevices. Through a software control application installed on acontroller (e.g., smartphone, tablet, computer, voice input device), onecan play what she wants in any room having a networked playback device.Media content (e.g., songs, podcasts, video sound) can be streamed toplayback devices such that each room with a playback device can playback corresponding different media content. In addition, rooms can begrouped together for synchronous playback of the same media content,and/or the same media content can be heard in all rooms synchronously.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, aspects, and advantages of the presently disclosed technologymay be better understood with regard to the following description,appended claims, and accompanying drawings, as listed below. A personskilled in the relevant art will understand that the features shown inthe drawings are for purposes of illustrations, and variations,including different and/or additional features and arrangements thereof,are possible.

FIG. 1A is a partial cutaway view of an environment having a mediaplayback system configured in accordance with aspects of the disclosedtechnology.

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of the media playback system of FIG. 1Aand one or more networks.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of a playback device.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram of a playback device.

FIG. 1E is a block diagram of a network microphone device.

FIG. 1F is a block diagram of a network microphone device.

FIG. 1G is a block diagram of a playback device.

FIG. 1H is a partially schematic diagram of a control device.

FIG. 2A is a schematic drawing of a headphone device, according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 2B is a schematic drawing of a headphone device, according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a circuitry within a headphone device,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram of a circuitry within a headphone device,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram of a circuitry within a headphone device,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a circuitry within a headphone device,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional diagram of an example cable assembly,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional diagram of another example cable assembly,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a method in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 8A is a histogram depicting the estimated performance improvementprovided by the antenna switching techniques described herein for a setof test users.

FIG. 8B is another histogram depicting the estimated performanceimprovement provided by the antenna switching techniques describedherein for a set of test users.

FIG. 8C is another histogram depicting the estimated performanceimprovement provided by the antenna switching techniques describedherein for a set of test users.

FIG. 8D is another histogram depicting the estimated performanceimprovement provided by the antenna switching techniques describedherein for a set of test users.

The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating example embodiments,but those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that thetechnology disclosed herein is not limited to the arrangements and/orinstrumentality shown in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Overview

Consumers typically expect BLUETOOTH enabled devices, such as BLUETOOTHheadphones, to have a limited communication range. For example,consumers expect that the music streaming from their smartphone to apair of BLUETOOTH headphones will dropout if they leave the BLUETOOTHheadphones on as they walk away from their smartphone (e.g., they walkout of the room without their smartphone). As a result, consumersgenerally expect that they need to keep a pair of electronic devicesthat communicate via BLUETOOTH within close range of each other (e.g.,kept within about 5-15 feet of each other) to maintain the connection.Given the small range expectation for BLUETOOTH headphones, conventionaldesigns for such BLUETOOTH headphones typically only employ a singleantenna that is integrated into the same earpiece as the communicationcircuitry (e.g., the BLUETOOTH receiver).

Consumers, however, have significantly higher range expectations forWi-Fi enabled devices than for BLUETOOTH enabled devices. For example,consumers expect a Wi-Fi enabled tablet computer to be able to accessthe Internet via their wireless access point from every room in theirhome. As a result, a consumer would expect a Wi-Fi enabled headphone setto have the same type of reliable Internet connection to their wirelessaccess point that they experience while using a tablet computer. Suchexpectations require a Wi-Fi enabled device to successfully receive andtransmit information at significantly further ranges compared toBLUETOOTH enabled devices, including through walls, floors and/or otherobjects that tend to attenuate and/or reflect electromagnetic waves(e.g., concrete, metal, etc.).

One challenge with a Wi-Fi enabled device in a headphone form factor isthe electrical properties of the human head. For example, human headssignificantly reflect and/or attenuate electromagnetic waves at thefrequencies employed for Wi-Fi communication (e.g., 2.4 Gigahertz (GHz)and 5 GHz). As a result, an antenna disposed in an earpiece on one sideof a user’s head has a significant null area through which wirelessperformance is severely compromised. Such a large and deep null area isnot typically encountered in traditional Wi-Fi enabled devices, such aslaptop computers. In the context of BLUETOOTH headphones, the rangeexpectation of users is so small (e.g., because the smartphone that isproviding the audio via BLUETOOTH is typically within about 5 feet ofthe headphones) that a single antenna with a large null area is stillsufficient to provide an acceptable user experience despite theabove-described radiation pattern nulls introduced by a human head.Employing a conventional single antenna design for a Wi-Fi enabledheadphone, however, does not provide a stable connection at the ranges aconsumer would typically expect for a Wi-Fi enabled device.

One approach to improve the wireless performance of headphones is tointegrate multiple antennas into the headphone including at least oneantenna in each earpiece to provide spatial and pattern diversity. Dueto the high attenuation of electromagnetic waves travelling throughhuman head, integrating multiple antennas in different parts of aheadphone (e.g., in particular left and right sides of the head) canresult in antenna patterns with excellent pattern diversity (e.g.,complementary antenna patterns). Incorporating an additional antennainto an earpiece that is remote from the communication circuitry (e.g.,in an earpiece that does not comprise the wireless receiver) raises ahost of new technical challenges. For example, one challenge inincorporating an additional antenna that is remote from thecommunication circuitry (e.g., including the wireless receiver) isenabling communication and switching between the antennas in a mannersuitable for various modes of operation, e.g., switching between 2.4 GHzWi-Fi and 5.0 GHz Wi-Fi operation, or switching between BLUETOOTH and2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz Wi-Fi operation. Such different modes of operationsmay have different technical requirements (e.g., different latencyrequirements, range requirements, channel characteristics, etc.) and beemployed by users in different environments and/or use cases. Forexample, in WI-FI operation the headphone may typically be used in anindoor environment that exhibits a particular set of characteristics(e.g., wireless signal reflections off of solid objects such as wallsand ceilings are common) while in BLUETOOTH operation the headphone maytypically be used in an outdoor environment that exhibits asubstantially different set of characteristics (e.g., wireless signalreflections off of solid objects may be minimal).

Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure relate to a headphonedevice with spatially diverse antennas employing various modes ofoperation, each mode with an associated antenna switching policy orscheme. In some embodiments, for example, a headphone device comprises afirst earpiece and a second earpiece, a first antenna at least partiallydisposed in the first earpiece, and a second antenna at least partiallydisposed in the second earpiece. Further, the headphone device includesswitching circuitry coupled to the first antenna and the second antenna,wherein the switching circuitry includes a common port and wherein theswitching circuitry is configured to selectively couple the common portof the switching circuitry to either the first antenna or the secondantenna. The headphone device further includes communication circuitrycoupled to the common port of the switching circuit, wherein thecommunication circuitry is configured to, among other functions, (i)identify a current mode of operation from a plurality of modes ofoperation including a first mode of operation and a second mode ofoperation and (ii) cause the headphone device to wirelessly communicatewith at least one external device based at least in part on the currentmode of operation. In some embodiments, causing the headphone device towirelessly communicate includes, among other functions (i) while thecurrent mode of operation is the first mode of operation, causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port of the switching circuitry inaccordance with a first antenna switching policy, and (ii) while thecurrent mode of operation is the second mode of operation, causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port of the switching circuitry inaccordance with a second antenna switching policy that is different fromthe first antenna switching policy.

It should be appreciated that the antenna switching techniques describedherein to, for example, provide improved Wi-Fi performance that meets(or exceeds) user expectations may be readily applied to other wirelesscommunication schemes to further enhance wireless performance (e.g., tosubstantially exceed user expectations). For example, the antennaswitching techniques may be applied to improve the performance (e.g.,reduce dropouts, increase range, etc.) of a BLUETOOTH communication linkwell beyond typical user expectations (and well beyond the performanceof conventional single antenna designs). FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D arehistograms that demonstrate the estimated performance improvementprovided by employing these antenna switching techniques for a BLUETOOTHcommunication link relative to a conventional single antenna design. Thedata shown in the histograms of FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D was obtained bymeasuring the performance of a BLUETOOTH communication link between aBLUETOOTH source (e.g., a smartphone) placed in various pant pockets(e.g., front-right pocket, rear-right pocket, front-left pocket, orrear-left pocket) and a pair of headphones for over 40 differentsubjects. In particular, FIG. 8A shows the estimated gain improvementwhere the source is in a front pocket that is opposite the singleantenna (e.g., antenna is positioned in the left earpiece and source isin a front-right pocket or the antenna is positioned in the rightearpiece and the source is in a front-left pocket), FIG. 8B shows theestimated gain improvement where the source is in a back pocket that isopposite the single antenna (e.g., antenna is positioned in the leftearpiece and source is in a back-right pocket or the antenna ispositioned in the right earpiece and the source is in a back-leftpocket), FIG. 8C shows the estimated gain improvement where the sourceis in a front pocket that is on the same side as the single antenna(e.g., antenna is positioned in the left earpiece and source is in afront-left pocket or the antenna is positioned in the right earpiece andthe source is in a front-right pocket), and FIG. 8D shows the estimatedgain improvement where the source is in a back pocket that is on thesame side as the single antenna (e.g., antenna is positioned in the leftearpiece and source is in a back-left pocket or the antenna ispositioned in the right earpiece and the source is in a back-rightpocket).

As shown in FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D, the antenna switching techniquesprovide the largest estimated gain improvements over a single antennadesign in situations when the BLUETOOTH source is in a pocket on anopposite side of the user than the single antenna (in the single antennadesign). In particular, FIGS. 8A and 8B demonstrate a gain improvementfor more than 60% of the test subjects (and a substantial gainimprovement of at least 5 dB for about 30% of the test subjects)relative to a single antenna design when the BLUETOOTH source is locatedin a pocket opposite the single antenna. As a result, the antennaswitching techniques advantageously reduce the sensitivity of theBLUETOOTH communication link to the relative locations of the BLUETOOTHsource and the headphone device relative to conventional single antennadesigns.

Aspects of the present disclosure further describe techniques to removethe switching circuitry altogether in a headphone device employingspatially diverse antennas. Such techniques may manifest an appreciationthat a pair of antennas disposed on either side of a human head (e.g.,one antenna disposed in each earpiece of a headphone) have nearlycomplimentary radiation patterns because of the tendency of the humanhead to attenuate and/or reflect electromagnetic waves. Given thecomplimentary radiation patterns of the pair of antennas, the outputfrom each of these antennas may be advantageously combined (e.g.,non-coherently combined) by one or more splitters such that thecommunication circuitry effectively sees the pair of antennas as asingle antenna with a more omnidirectional radiation pattern than eitherof the antennas in the pair individually. Thus, the switching circuitryin the headphone device may be replaced by one or more splitters thatcombine the outputs of a set of two or more antennas. It should beappreciated that the one or more splitters may be two-way (orbidirectional) splitters that both operate to: (1) split a signalreceived at a common port of the splitter into a first signal at a firstport and a second signal at a second port and (2) combine signalsreceived at the first and second ports into a combined signal at thecommon port.

Integrating multiple antennas that are spatially diverse into aheadphone form factor may also raise the technical challenge of enablingcommunication between the earpieces in a manner that maintains theintegrity of the weak wireless signals received via the remote antennaand permits integration into a headband of a headphone. Accordingly,aspects of the present disclosure relate to a cable assembly forintegration into the headband of the wireless headphone to carry thedetected wireless signals from the additional antenna to thecommunication circuitry. Such detected wireless signals may be carriedby a coaxial cable integrated into the cable assembly with a definedimpedance (e.g., 50 Ohms) to, for example, minimize reflection and/orattenuation. The cable assembly may further comprise additional cablesand/or conductors separate and apart from the components employed forthe detected wireless signals. For example, additional electroniccomponents may be integrated into the earpiece that is remote from thecommunication circuitry to facilitate receipt of a wireless signal suchas an antenna tuner and/or an amplifier (e.g., a low-noise amplifier(LNA)). In this example, the cable assembly may comprise additionalconductors to carry control signals to enable control of such additionalelectronic components in the earpiece that is remote from thecommunication circuitry.

While some examples described herein may refer to functions performed bygiven actors such as “users,” “listeners,” and/or other entities, itshould be understood that this is for purposes of explanation only. Theclaims should not be interpreted to require action by any such exampleactor unless explicitly required by the language of the claimsthemselves.

In the Figures, identical reference numbers typically identify generallysimilar, and/or identical, elements. To facilitate the discussion of anyparticular element, the most significant digit or digits of a referencenumber refers to the Figure in which that element is first introduced.For example, element 110 a is first introduced and discussed withreference to FIG. 1A. Many of the details, dimensions, angles and otherfeatures shown in the Figures are merely illustrative of particularembodiments of the disclosed technology. Accordingly, other embodimentscan have other details, dimensions, angles and features withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. In addition, thoseof ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that further embodiments ofthe various disclosed technologies can be practiced without several ofthe details described below.

II. Suitable Operating Environment

FIG. 1A is a partial cutaway view of a media playback system 100distributed in an environment 101 (e.g., a house). The media playbacksystem 100 comprises one or more playback devices 110 (identifiedindividually as playback devices 110 a-n), one or more networkmicrophone devices (“NMDs”), 120 (identified individually as NMDs 120a-c), and one or more control devices 130 (identified individually ascontrol devices 130 a and 130 b).

As used herein the term “playback device” can generally refer to anetwork device configured to receive, process, and output data of amedia playback system. For example, a playback device can be a networkdevice that receives and processes audio content. In some embodiments, aplayback device includes one or more transducers or speakers powered byone or more amplifiers. In other embodiments, however, a playback deviceincludes one of (or neither of) the speaker and the amplifier. Forinstance, a playback device can comprise one or more amplifiersconfigured to drive one or more speakers external to the playback devicevia a corresponding wire or cable.

Moreover, as used herein the term NMD (i.e., a “network microphonedevice”) can generally refer to a network device that is configured foraudio detection. In some embodiments, an NMD is a stand-alone deviceconfigured primarily for audio detection. In other embodiments, an NMDis incorporated into a playback device (or vice versa).

The term “control device” can generally refer to a network deviceconfigured to perform functions relevant to facilitating user access,control, and/or configuration of the media playback system 100.

Each of the playback devices 110 is configured to receive audio signalsor data from one or more media sources (e.g., one or more remoteservers, one or more local devices) and play back the received audiosignals or data as sound. The one or more NMDs 120 are configured toreceive spoken word commands, and the one or more control devices 130are configured to receive user input. In response to the received spokenword commands and/or user input, the media playback system 100 can playback audio via one or more of the playback devices 110. In certainembodiments, the playback devices 110 are configured to commenceplayback of media content in response to a trigger. For instance, one ormore of the playback devices 110 can be configured to play back amorning playlist upon detection of an associated trigger condition(e.g., presence of a user in a kitchen, detection of a coffee machineoperation). In some embodiments, for example, the media playback system100 is configured to play back audio from a first playback device (e.g.,the playback device 100 a) in synchrony with a second playback device(e.g., the playback device 100 b). Interactions between the playbackdevices 110, NMDs 120, and/or control devices 130 of the media playbacksystem 100 configured in accordance with the various embodiments of thedisclosure are described in greater detail below with respect to FIGS.1B-1H.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1A, the environment 101 comprisesa household having several rooms, spaces, and/or playback zones,including (clockwise from upper left) a master bathroom 101 a, a masterbedroom 101 b, a second bedroom 101 c, a family room or den 101 d, anoffice 100 e, a living room 101 f, a dining room 101 g, a kitchen 101 h,and an outdoor patio 101 i. While certain embodiments and examples aredescribed below in the context of a home environment, the technologiesdescribed herein may be implemented in other types of environments. Insome embodiments, for example, the media playback system 100 can beimplemented in one or more commercial settings (e.g., a restaurant,mall, airport, hotel, a retail or other store), one or more vehicles(e.g., a sports utility vehicle, bus, car, a ship, a boat, an airplane),multiple environments (e.g., a combination of home and vehicleenvironments), and/or another suitable environment where multi-zoneaudio may be desirable.

The media playback system 100 can comprise one or more playback zones,some of which may correspond to the rooms in the environment 101. Themedia playback system 100 can be established with one or more playbackzones, after which additional zones may be added, or removed to form,for example, the configuration shown in FIG. 1A. Each zone may be givena name according to a different room or space such as the office 100 e,master bathroom 101 a, master bedroom 101 b, the second bedroom 101 c,kitchen 100 h, dining room 101 g, living room 101 f, and/or the balcony101 i. In some aspects, a single playback zone may include multiplerooms or spaces. In certain aspects, a single room or space may includemultiple playback zones.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1A, the master bathroom 101 a, thesecond bedroom 101 c, the office 100 e, the living room 101 f, thedining room 101 g, the kitchen 100 h, and the outdoor patio 101 i eachinclude one playback device 110, and the master bedroom 101 b and theden 101 d include a plurality of playback devices 110. In the masterbedroom 101 b, the playback devices 1101 and 110 m may be configured,for example, to play back audio content in synchrony as individual onesof playback devices 110, as a bonded playback zone, as a consolidatedplayback device, and/or any combination thereof. Similarly, in the den101 d, the playback devices 110 h-j can be configured, for instance, toplay back audio content in synchrony as individual ones of playbackdevices 110, as one or more bonded playback devices, and/or as one ormore consolidated playback devices. Additional details regarding bondedand consolidated playback devices are described below with respect toFIGS. 1B and 1H.

In some aspects, one or more of the playback zones in the environment101 may each be playing different audio content. For instance, a usermay be grilling on the patio 101 i and listening to hip hop music beingplayed by the playback device 110 c while another user is preparing foodin the kitchen 101 h and listening to classical music played by theplayback device 110 b. In another example, a playback zone may play thesame audio content in synchrony with another playback zone. Forinstance, the user may be in the office 100 e listening to the playbackdevice 110 f playing back the same hip hop music being played back byplayback device 110 c on the patio 101 i. In some aspects, the playbackdevices 110 c and 110 f play back the hip hop music in synchrony suchthat the user perceives that the audio content is being playedseamlessly (or at least substantially seamlessly) while moving betweendifferent playback zones. Additional details regarding audio playbacksynchronization among playback devices and/or zones can be found, forexample, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395 entitled, “System and method forsynchronizing operations among a plurality of independently clockeddigital data processing devices,” which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

A. Suitable Media Playback System

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of the media playback system 100 and acloud network 102. For ease of illustration, certain devices of themedia playback system 100 and the cloud network 102 are omitted fromFIG. 1B. One or more communication links 103 (referred to hereinafter as“the links 103”) communicatively couple the media playback system 100and the cloud network 102.

The links 103 can comprise, for example, one or more wired networks, oneor more wireless networks, one or more wide area networks (WAN), one ormore local area networks (LAN), one or more personal area networks(PAN), one or more telecommunication networks (e.g., one or more GlobalSystem for Mobiles (GSM) networks, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)networks, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks, 5G communication networknetworks, and/or other suitable data transmission protocol networks),etc. The cloud network 102 is configured to deliver media content (e.g.,audio content, video content, photographs, social media content) to themedia playback system 100 in response to a request transmitted from themedia playback system 100 via the links 103. In some embodiments, thecloud network 102 is further configured to receive data (e.g. voiceinput data) from the media playback system 100 and correspondinglytransmit commands and/or media content to the media playback system 100.

The cloud network 102 comprises computing devices 106 (identifiedseparately as a first computing device 106 a, a second computing device106 b, and a third computing device 106 c). The computing devices 106can comprise individual computers or servers, such as, for example, amedia streaming service server storing audio and/or other media content,a voice service server, a social media server, a media playback systemcontrol server, etc. In some embodiments, one or more of the computingdevices 106 comprise modules of a single computer or server. In certainembodiments, one or more of the computing devices 106 comprise one ormore modules, computers, and/or servers. Moreover, while the cloudnetwork 102 is described above in the context of a single cloud network,in some embodiments the cloud network 102 comprises a plurality of cloudnetworks comprising communicatively coupled computing devices.Furthermore, while the cloud network 102 is shown in FIG. 1B as havingthree of the computing devices 106, in some embodiments, the cloudnetwork 102 comprises fewer (or more than) three computing devices 106.

The media playback system 100 is configured to receive media contentfrom the networks 102 via the links 103. The received media content cancomprise, for example, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and/or aUniform Resource Locator (URL). For instance, in some examples, themedia playback system 100 can stream, download, or otherwise obtain datafrom a URI or a URL corresponding to the received media content. Anetwork 104 communicatively couples the links 103 and at least a portionof the devices (e.g., one or more of the playback devices 110, NMDs 120,and/or control devices 130) of the media playback system 100. Thenetwork 104 can include, for example, a wireless network (e.g., anetwork, a Bluetooth, a Z-Wave network, a ZigBee, and/or other suitablewireless communication protocol network) and/or a wired network (e.g., anetwork comprising Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), and/or anothersuitable wired communication). As those of ordinary skill in the artwill appreciate, as used herein, “” can refer to several differentcommunication protocols including, for example, Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,802.11ac, 802.11ac, 802.11ad, 802.11af, 802.11ah, 802.11ai, 802.11aj,802.11aq, 802.11ax, 802.11ay, 802.15, etc. transmitted at 2.4 Gigahertz(GHz), 5 GHz, and/or another suitable frequency.

In some embodiments, the network 104 comprises a dedicated communicationnetwork that the media playback system 100 uses to transmit messagesbetween individual devices and/or to transmit media content to and frommedia content sources (e.g., one or more of the computing devices 106).In certain embodiments, the network 104 is configured to be accessibleonly to devices in the media playback system 100, thereby reducinginterference and competition with other household devices. In otherembodiments, however, the network 104 comprises an existing householdcommunication network (e.g., a household network). In some embodiments,the links 103 and the network 104 comprise one or more of the samenetworks. In some aspects, for example, the links 103 and the network104 comprise a telecommunication network (e.g., an LTE network, a 5Gnetwork). Moreover, in some embodiments, the media playback system 100is implemented without the network 104, and devices comprising the mediaplayback system 100 can communicate with each other, for example, viaone or more direct connections, PANs, telecommunication networks, and/orother suitable communication links.

In some embodiments, audio content sources may be regularly added orremoved from the media playback system 100. In some embodiments, forexample, the media playback system 100 performs an indexing of mediaitems when one or more media content sources are updated, added to,and/or removed from the media playback system 100. The media playbacksystem 100 can scan identifiable media items in some or all foldersand/or directories accessible to the playback devices 110, and generateor update a media content database comprising metadata (e.g., title,artist, album, track length) and other associated information (e.g.,URIs, URLs) for each identifiable media item found. In some embodiments,for example, the media content database is stored on one or more of theplayback devices 110, network microphone devices 120, and/or controldevices 130.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1B, the playback devices 1101 and110 m comprise a group 107 a. The playback devices 1101 and 110 m can bepositioned in different rooms in a household and be grouped together inthe group 107 a on a temporary or permanent basis based on user inputreceived at the control device 130 a and/or another control device 130in the media playback system 100. When arranged in the group 107 a, theplayback devices 1101 and 110 m can be configured to play back the sameor similar audio content in synchrony from one or more audio contentsources. In certain embodiments, for example, the group 107 a comprisesa bonded zone in which the playback devices 1101 and 110 m comprise leftaudio and right audio channels, respectively, of multi-channel audiocontent, thereby producing or enhancing a stereo effect of the audiocontent. In some embodiments, the group 107 a includes additionalplayback devices 110. In other embodiments, however, the media playbacksystem 100 omits the group 107 a and/or other grouped arrangements ofthe playback devices 110.

The media playback system 100 includes the NMDs 120 a and 120 d, eachcomprising one or more microphones configured to receive voiceutterances from a user. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1B, theNMD 120 a is a standalone device and the NMD 120 d is integrated intothe playback device 110 n. The NMD 120 a, for example, is configured toreceive voice input 121 from a user 123. In some embodiments, the NMD120 a transmits data associated with the received voice input 121 to avoice assistant service (VAS) configured to (i) process the receivedvoice input data and (ii) transmit a corresponding command to the mediaplayback system 100. In some aspects, for example, the computing device106 c comprises one or more modules and/or servers of a VAS (e.g., a VASoperated by one or more of SONOS®, AMAZON®, GOOGLE®, APPLE®,MICROSOFT®). The computing device 106 c can receive the voice input datafrom the NMD 120 a via the network 104 and the links 103. In response toreceiving the voice input data, the computing device 106 c processes thevoice input data (i.e., “Play Hey Jude by The Beatles”), and determinesthat the processed voice input includes a command to play a song (e.g.,“Hey Jude”). The computing device 106 c accordingly transmits commandsto the media playback system 100 to play back “Hey Jude” by the Beatlesfrom a suitable media service (e.g., via one or more of the computingdevices 106) on one or more of the playback devices 110.

B. Suitable Playback Devices

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of the playback device 110 a comprising aninput/output 111. The input/output 111 can include an analog I/O 111 a(e.g., one or more wires, cables, and/or other suitable communicationlinks configured to carry analog signals) and/or a digital I/O 111 b(e.g., one or more wires, cables, or other suitable communication linksconfigured to carry digital signals). In some embodiments, the analogI/O 111 a is an audio line-in input connection comprising, for example,an auto-detecting 3.5 mm audio line-in connection. In some embodiments,the digital I/O 111 b comprises a Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format(S/PDIF) communication interface and/or cable and/or a Toshiba Link(TOSLINK) cable. In some embodiments, the digital I/O 111 b comprises anHigh-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) interface and/or cable. Insome embodiments, the digital I/O 111 b includes one or more wirelesscommunication links comprising, for example, a radio frequency (RF),infrared, Bluetooth, or another suitable communication protocol. Incertain embodiments, the analog I/O 111 a and the digital 111 b compriseinterfaces (e.g., ports, plugs, jacks) configured to receive connectorsof cables transmitting analog and digital signals, respectively, withoutnecessarily including cables.

The playback device 110 a, for example, can receive media content (e.g.,audio content comprising music and/or other sounds) from a local audiosource 105 via the input/output 111 (e.g., a cable, a wire, a PAN, aBluetooth connection, an ad hoc wired or wireless communication network,and/or another suitable communication link). The local audio source 105can comprise, for example, a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone, atablet, a laptop computer) or another suitable audio component (e.g., atelevision, a desktop computer, an amplifier, a phonograph, a Blu-rayplayer, a memory storing digital media files). In some aspects, thelocal audio source 105 includes local music libraries on a smartphone, acomputer, a networked-attached storage (NAS), and/or another suitabledevice configured to store media files. In certain embodiments, one ormore of the playback devices 110, NMDs 120, and/or control devices 130comprise the local audio source 105. In other embodiments, however, themedia playback system omits the local audio source 105 altogether. Insome embodiments, the playback device 110 a does not include aninput/output 111 and receives all audio content via the network 104.

The playback device 110 a further comprises electronics 112, a userinterface 113 (e.g., one or more buttons, knobs, dials, touch-sensitivesurfaces, displays, touchscreens), and one or more transducers 114(referred to hereinafter as “the transducers 114”). The electronics 112is configured to receive audio from an audio source (e.g., the localaudio source 105) via the input/output 111, one or more of the computingdevices 106 a-c via the network 104 (FIG. 1B)), amplify the receivedaudio, and output the amplified audio for playback via one or more ofthe transducers 114. In some embodiments, the playback device 110 aoptionally includes one or more microphones 115 (e.g., a singlemicrophone, a plurality of microphones, a microphone array) (hereinafterreferred to as “the microphones 115”). In certain embodiments, forexample, the playback device 110 a having one or more of the optionalmicrophones 115 can operate as an NMD configured to receive voice inputfrom a user and correspondingly perform one or more operations based onthe received voice input.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1C, the electronics 112 compriseone or more processors 112 a (referred to hereinafter as “the processors112 a”), memory 112 b, software components 112 c, a network interface112 d, one or more audio processing components 112 g (referred tohereinafter as “the audio components 112 g”), one or more audioamplifiers 112 h (referred to hereinafter as “the amplifiers 112 h”),and power 112 i (e.g., one or more power supplies, power cables, powerreceptacles, batteries, induction coils, Power-over Ethernet (POE)interfaces, and/or other suitable sources of electric power). In someembodiments, the electronics 112 optionally include one or more othercomponents 112 j (e.g., one or more sensors, video displays,touchscreens, battery charging bases).

The processors 112 a can comprise clock-driven computing component(s)configured to process data, and the memory 112 b can comprise acomputer-readable medium (e.g., a tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, data storage loaded with one or more of thesoftware components 112 c) configured to store instructions forperforming various operations and/or functions. The processors 112 a areconfigured to execute the instructions stored on the memory 112 b toperform one or more of the operations. The operations can include, forexample, causing the playback device 110 a to retrieve audio data froman audio source (e.g., one or more of the computing devices 106 a-c(FIG. 1B)), and/or another one of the playback devices 110. In someembodiments, the operations further include causing the playback device110 a to send audio data to another one of the playback devices 110 aand/or another device (e.g., one of the NMDs 120). Certain embodimentsinclude operations causing the playback device 110 a to pair withanother of the one or more playback devices 110 to enable amulti-channel audio environment (e.g., a stereo pair, a bonded zone).

The processors 112 a can be further configured to perform operationscausing the playback device 110 a to synchronize playback of audiocontent with another of the one or more playback devices 110. As thoseof ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, during synchronousplayback of audio content on a plurality of playback devices, a listenerwill preferably be unable to perceive time-delay differences betweenplayback of the audio content by the playback device 110 a and the otherone or more other playback devices 110. Additional details regardingaudio playback synchronization among playback devices can be found, forexample, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395, which was incorporated by referenceabove.

In some embodiments, the memory 112 b is further configured to storedata associated with the playback device 110 a, such as one or morezones and/or zone groups of which the playback device 110 a is a member,audio sources accessible to the playback device 110 a, and/or a playbackqueue that the playback device 110 a (and/or another of the one or moreplayback devices) can be associated with. The stored data can compriseone or more state variables that are periodically updated and used todescribe a state of the playback device 110 a. The memory 112 b can alsoinclude data associated with a state of one or more of the other devices(e.g., the playback devices 110, NMDs 120, control devices 130) of themedia playback system 100. In some aspects, for example, the state datais shared during predetermined intervals of time (e.g., every 5 seconds,every 10 seconds, every 60 seconds) among at least a portion of thedevices of the media playback system 100, so that one or more of thedevices have the most recent data associated with the media playbacksystem 100.

The network interface 112 d is configured to facilitate a transmissionof data between the playback device 110 a and one or more other deviceson a data network such as, for example, the links 103 and/or the network104 (FIG. 1B). The network interface 112 d is configured to transmit andreceive data corresponding to media content (e.g., audio content, videocontent, text, photographs) and other signals (e.g., non-transitorysignals) comprising digital packet data including an Internet Protocol(IP)-based source address and/or an IP-based destination address. Thenetwork interface 112 d can parse the digital packet data such that theelectronics 112 properly receives and processes the data destined forthe playback device 110 a.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1C, the network interface 112 dcomprises one or more wireless interfaces 112 e (referred to hereinafteras “the wireless interface 112 e”). The wireless interface 112 e (e.g.,a suitable interface comprising one or more antennae) can be configuredto wirelessly communicate with one or more other devices (e.g., one ormore of the other playback devices 110, NMDs 120, and/or control devices130) that are communicatively coupled to the network 104 (FIG. 1B) inaccordance with a suitable wireless communication protocol (e.g., ,Bluetooth, LTE). In some embodiments, the network interface 112 doptionally includes a wired interface 112 f (e.g., an interface orreceptacle configured to receive a network cable such as an Ethernet, aUSB-A, USB-C, and/or Thunderbolt cable) configured to communicate over awired connection with other devices in accordance with a suitable wiredcommunication protocol. In certain embodiments, the network interface112 d includes the wired interface 112 f and excludes the wirelessinterface 112 e. In some embodiments, the electronics 112 excludes thenetwork interface 112 d altogether and transmits and receives mediacontent and/or other data via another communication path (e.g., theinput/output 111).

The audio components 112 g are configured to process and/or filter datacomprising media content received by the electronics 112 (e.g., via theinput/output 111 and/or the network interface 112 d) to produce outputaudio signals. In some embodiments, the audio processing components 112g comprise, for example, one or more digital-to-analog converters (DAC),audio preprocessing components, audio enhancement components, a digitalsignal processors (DSPs), and/or other suitable audio processingcomponents, modules, circuits, etc. In certain embodiments, one or moreof the audio processing components 112 g can comprise one or moresubcomponents of the processors 112 a. In some embodiments, theelectronics 112 omits the audio processing components 112 g. In someaspects, for example, the processors 112 a execute instructions storedon the memory 112 b to perform audio processing operations to producethe output audio signals.

The amplifiers 112 h are configured to receive and amplify the audiooutput signals produced by the audio processing components 112 g and/orthe processors 112 a. The amplifiers 112 h can comprise electronicdevices and/or components configured to amplify audio signals to levelssufficient for driving one or more of the transducers 114. In someembodiments, for example, the amplifiers 112 h include one or moreswitching or class-D power amplifiers. In other embodiments, however,the amplifiers include one or more other types of power amplifiers(e.g., linear gain power amplifiers, class-A amplifiers, class-Bamplifiers, class-AB amplifiers, class-C amplifiers, class-D amplifiers,class-E amplifiers, class-F amplifiers, class-G and/or class Hamplifiers, and/or another suitable type of power amplifier). In certainembodiments, the amplifiers 112 h comprise a suitable combination of twoor more of the foregoing types of power amplifiers. Moreover, in someembodiments, individual ones of the amplifiers 112 h correspond toindividual ones of the transducers 114. In other embodiments, however,the electronics 112 includes a single one of the amplifiers 112 hconfigured to output amplified audio signals to a plurality of thetransducers 114. In some other embodiments, the electronics 112 omitsthe amplifiers 112 h.

The transducers 114 (e.g., one or more speakers and/or speaker drivers)receive the amplified audio signals from the amplifier 112 h and renderor output the amplified audio signals as sound (e.g., audible soundwaves having a frequency between about 20 Hertz (Hz) and 20 kilohertz(kHz)). In some embodiments, the transducers 114 can comprise a singletransducer. In other embodiments, however, the transducers 114 comprisea plurality of audio transducers. In some embodiments, the transducers114 comprise more than one type of transducer. For example, thetransducers 114 can include one or more low frequency transducers (e.g.,subwoofers, woofers), mid-range frequency transducers (e.g., mid-rangetransducers, mid-woofers), and one or more high frequency transducers(e.g., one or more tweeters). As used herein, “low frequency” cangenerally refer to audible frequencies below about 500 Hz, “mid-rangefrequency” can generally refer to audible frequencies between about 500Hz and about 2 kHz, and “high frequency” can generally refer to audiblefrequencies above 2 kHz. In certain embodiments, however, one or more ofthe transducers 114 comprise transducers that do not adhere to theforegoing frequency ranges. For example, one of the transducers 114 maycomprise a mid-woofer transducer configured to output sound atfrequencies between about 200 Hz and about 5 kHz.

By way of illustration, SONOS, Inc. presently offers (or has offered)for sale certain playback devices including, for example, a “SONOS ONE,”“PLAY:1,” “PLAY:3,” “PLAY:5,” “PLAYBAR,” “PLAYBASE,” “CONNECT:AMP,”“CONNECT,” and “SUB.” Other suitable playback devices may additionallyor alternatively be used to implement the playback devices of exampleembodiments disclosed herein. Additionally, one of ordinary skilled inthe art will appreciate that a playback device is not limited to theexamples described herein or to SONOS product offerings. In someembodiments, for example, one or more playback devices 110 compriseswired or wireless headphones (e.g., over-the-ear headphones, on-earheadphones, in-ear earphones). In other embodiments, one or more of theplayback devices 110 comprise a docking station and/or an interfaceconfigured to interact with a docking station for personal mobile mediaplayback devices. In certain embodiments, a playback device may beintegral to another device or component such as a television, a lightingfixture, or some other device for indoor or outdoor use. In someembodiments, a playback device omits a user interface and/or one or moretransducers. For example, FIG. 1D is a block diagram of a playbackdevice 110 p comprising the input/output 111 and electronics 112 withoutthe user interface 113 or transducers 114.

FIG. 1E is a block diagram of a bonded playback device 110 q comprisingthe playback device 110 a (FIG. 1C) sonically bonded with the playbackdevice 110 i (e.g., a subwoofer) (FIG. 1A). In the illustratedembodiment, the playback devices 110 a and 110 i are separate ones ofthe playback devices 110 housed in separate enclosures. In someembodiments, however, the bonded playback device 110 q comprises asingle enclosure housing both the playback devices 110 a and 110 i. Thebonded playback device 110 q can be configured to process and reproducesound differently than an unbonded playback device (e.g., the playbackdevice 110 a of FIG. 1C) and/or paired or bonded playback devices (e.g.,the playback devices 1101 and 110 m of FIG. 1B). In some embodiments,for example, the playback device 110 a is full-range playback deviceconfigured to render low frequency, mid-range frequency, and highfrequency audio content, and the playback device 110 i is a subwooferconfigured to render low frequency audio content. In some aspects, theplayback device 110 a, when bonded with the first playback device, isconfigured to render only the mid-range and high frequency components ofa particular audio content, while the playback device 110 i renders thelow frequency component of the particular audio content. In someembodiments, the bonded playback device 110 q includes additionalplayback devices and/or another bonded playback device.

C. Suitable Network Microphone Devices (NMDs)

FIG. 1F is a block diagram of the NMD 120 a (FIGS. 1A and 1B). The NMD120 a includes one or more voice processing components 124 (hereinafter“the voice components 124”) and several components described withrespect to the playback device 110 a (FIG. 1C) including the processors112 a, the memory 112 b, and the microphones 115. The NMD 120 aoptionally comprises other components also included in the playbackdevice 110 a (FIG. 1C), such as the user interface 113 and/or thetransducers 114. In some embodiments, the NMD 120 a is configured as amedia playback device (e.g., one or more of the playback devices 110),and further includes, for example, one or more of the audio components112 g (FIG. 1C), the amplifiers 114, and/or other playback devicecomponents. In certain embodiments, the NMD 120 a comprises an Internetof Things (IoT) device such as, for example, a thermostat, alarm panel,fire and/or smoke detector, etc. In some embodiments, the NMD 120 acomprises the microphones 115, the voice processing 124, and only aportion of the components of the electronics 112 described above withrespect to FIG. 1B. In some aspects, for example, the NMD 120 a includesthe processor 112 a and the memory 112 b (FIG. 1B), while omitting oneor more other components of the electronics 112. In some embodiments,the NMD 120 a includes additional components (e.g., one or more sensors,cameras, thermometers, barometers, hygrometers).

In some embodiments, an NMD can be integrated into a playback device.FIG. 1G is a block diagram of a playback device 110 r comprising an NMD120 d. The playback device 110 r can comprise many or all of thecomponents of the playback device 110 a and further include themicrophones 115 and voice processing 124 (FIG. 1F). The playback device110 r optionally includes an integrated control device 130 c. Thecontrol device 130 c can comprise, for example, a user interface (e.g.,the user interface 113 of FIG. 1B) configured to receive user input(e.g., touch input, voice input) without a separate control device. Inother embodiments, however, the playback device 110 r receives commandsfrom another control device (e.g., the control device 130 a of FIG. 1B).

Referring again to FIG. 1F, the microphones 115 are configured toacquire, capture, and/or receive sound from an environment (e.g., theenvironment 101 of FIG. 1A) and/or a room in which the NMD 120 a ispositioned. The received sound can include, for example, vocalutterances, audio played back by the NMD 120 a and/or another playbackdevice, background voices, ambient sounds, etc. The microphones 115convert the received sound into electrical signals to produce microphonedata. The voice processing 124 receives and analyzes the microphone datato determine whether a voice input is present in the microphone data.The voice input can comprise, for example, an activation word followedby an utterance including a user request. As those of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate, an activation word is a word or other audio cuethat signifying a user voice input. For instance, in querying theAMAZON® VAS, a user might speak the activation word “Alexa.” Otherexamples include “Ok, Google” for invoking the GOOGLE® VAS and “Hey,Siri” for invoking the APPLE® VAS.

After detecting the activation word, voice processing 124 monitors themicrophone data for an accompanying user request in the voice input. Theuser request may include, for example, a command to control athird-party device, such as a thermostat (e.g., NEST® thermostat), anillumination device (e.g., a PHILIPS HUE ® lighting device), or a mediaplayback device (e.g., a Sonos® playback device). For example, a usermight speak the activation word “Alexa” followed by the utterance “setthe thermostat to 68 degrees” to set a temperature in a home (e.g., theenvironment 101 of FIG. 1A). The user might speak the same activationword followed by the utterance “turn on the living room” to turn onillumination devices in a living room area of the home. The user maysimilarly speak an activation word followed by a request to play aparticular song, an album, or a playlist of music on a playback devicein the home.

D. Suitable Control Devices

FIG. 1H is a partially schematic diagram of the control device 130 a(FIGS. 1A and 1B). As used herein, the term “control device” can be usedinterchangeably with “controller” or “control system.” Among otherfeatures, the control device 130 a is configured to receive user inputrelated to the media playback system 100 and, in response, cause one ormore devices in the media playback system 100 to perform an action(s) oroperation(s) corresponding to the user input. In the illustratedembodiment, the control device 130 a comprises a smartphone (e.g., aniPhone™, an Android phone) on which media playback system controllerapplication software is installed. In some embodiments, the controldevice 130 a comprises, for example, a tablet (e.g., an iPad™), acomputer (e.g., a laptop computer, a desktop computer), and/or anothersuitable device (e.g., a television, an automobile audio head unit, anIoT device). In certain embodiments, the control device 130 a comprisesa dedicated controller for the media playback system 100. In otherembodiments, as described above with respect to FIG. 1G, the controldevice 130 a is integrated into another device in the media playbacksystem 100 (e.g., one more of the playback devices 110, NMDs 120, and/orother suitable devices configured to communicate over a network).

The control device 130 a includes electronics 132, a user interface 133,one or more speakers 134, and one or more microphones 135. Theelectronics 132 comprise one or more processors 132 a (referred tohereinafter as “the processors 132 a”), a memory 132 b, softwarecomponents 132 c, and a network interface 132 d. The processor 132 a canbe configured to perform functions relevant to facilitating user access,control, and configuration of the media playback system 100. The memory132 b can comprise data storage that can be loaded with one or more ofthe software components executable by the processor 112 a to performthose functions. The software components 132 c can comprise applicationsand/or other executable software configured to facilitate control of themedia playback system 100. The memory 112 b can be configured to store,for example, the software components 132 c, media playback systemcontroller application software, and/or other data associated with themedia playback system 100 and the user.

The network interface 132 d is configured to facilitate networkcommunications between the control device 130 a and one or more otherdevices in the media playback system 100, and/or one or more remotedevices. In some embodiments, the network interface 132 is configured tooperate according to one or more suitable communication industrystandards (e.g., infrared, radio, wired standards including IEEE 802.3,wireless standards including IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,802.11ac, 802.15, 4G, LTE). The network interface 132 d can beconfigured, for example, to transmit data to and/or receive data fromthe playback devices 110, the NMDs 120, other ones of the controldevices 130, one of the computing devices 106 of FIG. 1B, devicescomprising one or more other media playback systems, etc. Thetransmitted and/or received data can include, for example, playbackdevice control commands, state variables, playback zone and/or zonegroup configurations. For instance, based on user input received at theuser interface 133, the network interface 132 d can transmit a playbackdevice control command (e.g., volume control, audio playback control,audio content selection) from the control device 304 to one or more ofthe playback devices 100. The network interface 132 d can also transmitand/or receive configuration changes such as, for example,adding/removing one or more playback devices 100 to/from a zone,adding/removing one or more zones to/from a zone group, forming a bondedor consolidated player, separating one or more playback devices from abonded or consolidated player, among others.

The user interface 133 is configured to receive user input and canfacilitate 'control of the media playback system 100. The user interface133 includes media content art 133 a (e.g., album art, lyrics, videos),a playback status indicator 133 b (e.g., an elapsed and/or remainingtime indicator), media content information region 133 c, a playbackcontrol region 133 d, and a zone indicator 133 e. The media contentinformation region 133 c can include a display of relevant information(e.g., title, artist, album, genre, release year) about media contentcurrently playing and/or media content in a queue or playlist. Theplayback control region 133 d can include selectable (e.g., via touchinput and/or via a cursor or another suitable selector) icons to causeone or more playback devices in a selected playback zone or zone groupto perform playback actions such as, for example, play or pause, fastforward, rewind, skip to next, skip to previous, enter/exit shufflemode, enter/exit repeat mode, enter/exit cross fade mode, etc. Theplayback control region 133 d may also include selectable icons tomodify equalization settings, playback volume, and/or other suitableplayback actions. In the illustrated embodiment, the user interface 133comprises a display presented on a touch screen interface of asmartphone (e.g., an iPhone™, an Android phone). In some embodiments,however, user interfaces of varying formats, styles, and interactivesequences may alternatively be implemented on one or more networkdevices to provide comparable control access to a media playback system.

The one or more speakers 134 (e.g., one or more transducers) can beconfigured to output sound to the user of the control device 130 a. Insome embodiments, the one or more speakers comprise individualtransducers configured to correspondingly output low frequencies,midrange frequencies, and/or high frequencies. In some aspects, forexample, the control device 130 a is configured as a playback device(e.g., one of the playback devices 110). Similarly, in some embodimentsthe control device 130 a is configured as an NMD (e.g., one of the NMDs120), receiving voice commands and other sounds via the one or moremicrophones 135.

The one or more microphones 135 can comprise, for example, one or morecondenser microphones, electret condenser microphones, dynamicmicrophones, and/or other suitable types of microphones or transducers.In some embodiments, two or more of the microphones 135 are arranged tocapture location information of an audio source (e.g., voice, audiblesound) and/or configured to facilitate filtering of background noise.Moreover, in certain embodiments, the control device 130 a is configuredto operate as playback device and an NMD. In other embodiments, however,the control device 130 a omits the one or more speakers 134 and/or theone or more microphones 135. For instance, the control device 130 a maycomprise a device (e.g., a thermostat, an IoT device, a network device)comprising a portion of the electronics 132 and the user interface 133(e.g., a touch screen) without any speakers or microphones.

III. Example Headphone Devices

In some embodiments a playback device may be a headphone device. Aspectsof the present disclosure relate to a headphone device (e.g., WI-FIenabled headphones, WI-FI and BLUETOOTH enabled headphones, etc.)including multiple spatially diverse antennas for improved wirelessperformance. Further, the disclosed headphone device may be configuredto operate in a variety of operational modes (e.g., WI-FI, BLUETOOTH,home theater, LTE, 5G, etc.) based on the wireless communication channeland type of media to be played by the headphone device.

FIG. 2A shows some aspects of an example headphone device 200 accordingto some embodiments. The headphone device 200 may be implemented as awearable device such as over-ear headphones, in-ear headphones, oron-ear headphones. As shown, the headphone device 200 includes aheadband 242 that couples a first earpiece 240 a to a second earpiece240 b. Each of the earpieces 240 a and 240 b may house any portion ofthe electronic components in the headphone device 200 (e.g., transducers114 a and 114 b, amplifiers, filters, processors 212 a and 212 b,memory, receivers, transmitters, switches, etc.). Additionally, one orboth of the earpieces 240 a and 240 b may house antennas 244 a and 244b, switching circuitry 246, and communication circuitry 247. Theswitching circuitry 246 further includes a common port and is configuredto selectively couple the common port to either the first antenna 244 aor the second antenna 244 b. Detailed example embodiments of theswitching circuitry 246 and the communication circuitry 247 are providedin FIGS. 3-5 . In some embodiments, the collection of above-listedcomponents are said be enclosed within a headphone housing, whichincludes the combination of the first and second earpieces 240 a, 240 band the headband 242.

In some example embodiments, one or more of the earpieces 240 a and 240b may further include a user interface for controlling audio playback,volume level, and other functions. The user interface may include any ofa variety of control elements such as a button, a capacitive touchsurface, and/or a switch.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the headphone device 200 may further include earcushions 245 a and 245 b that are coupled to earpieces 240 a and 240 b,respectively. The ear cushions 245 a and 245 b may provide a softbarrier between the head of a user and the earpieces 240 a and 240 b,respectively, to improve user comfort and/or provide acoustic isolationfrom the surrounding environment (e.g., passive noise reduction (PNR)).

In some embodiments, the communication circuitry 247 may comprise any ofa variety of electronic components that enable transmission and/orreceipt of wireless signals via antennas 244 a and 244 b. Examples ofsuch components include receivers, transmitters, processors 112 a,memory, amplifiers, switches, and/or filters. In some embodiments, thecommunication circuitry 247 may employ diversity combining techniques tointelligently combine and/or switch between the signals received fromthe antennas 244 a and 244 b. Such diversity combining/switchingtechniques may advantageously improve the quality of the received signalprovided to the receiver to reduce the likelihood of dropouts. Dropoutsoccur when the headphone device 200 momentarily stops playing audiobecause the headphone device 200 has failed to receive data packets (orframes) comprising audio information for playback, typically because ofpoor RF signal strength and/or RF interference. These dropouts areusually only temporary, lasting from a few milliseconds or even up to afew seconds, but they are very disruptive to the user’s listeningexperience. Examples of such combining/switching techniques to avoiddropouts include equal-gain combining (e.g., received signals aresummed), maximum-ratio combining (e.g., received signals are weightedbased on signal strength and then summed), switched combining (e.g.,received signals from one antenna are used until the signal strengthdrops below a threshold), and selection combining (e.g., the receivedsignal(s) with the highest signal strength are used).

In some embodiments, the antennas 244 a and 244 b are multi-bandantennas configured to operate on several frequency bands (e.g., the 2.4GHz band and the 5 GHz band), such as a dual -band inverted-F antenna(IFA). Further, in some examples, one or more of the antennas 244 a and244 b may be passive multi-band antennas. In other examples, one or moreof the antennas 244 a and 244 b may be active multi-band antennas. Stillyet further, one of antennas 244 a and 244 b may be an active multi-bandantenna while the other antenna may be a passive multi-band antenna. Inother embodiments, one or more of antennas 244 a and 244 b may besingle-band antennas configured to operate on a single frequency band(e.g., the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band)

It should be appreciated that the headphone device 200 may employ anynumber of antennas and is not limited to implementations with only twoantennas. For example, the headphone device 200 may comprise twoantennas for communication over WI-FI and a third antenna forcommunication over BLUETOOTH. Additionally (or alternatively), theheadphone device 200 may comprise an additional antenna to enablenear-field communication (NFC).

In some embodiments, the antennas 244 a and 244 b are physicallyseparated from each other (i.e., spatially diverse). This is desirablewhile a user/wearer is wearing the headphone device 200, as a human headmay attenuate and/or reflect electromagnetic waves causing RF signalinterruption. Using a combination of antennas 244 a and 244 b in eachearpiece 240 a and 240 b (i.e., on either side of the user’s head whenin use) -- alone or in combination with one or more of theabove-described switching/combining techniques -- reduces RF signalinterruption caused by movement and/or position of the user’s head whilewearing the headphones. The communication circuitry 247 and/or switchingcircuitry 246 allow for combining and/or switching between the antennas244 a and 244 b during operation based on, for example, which antenna244 a or 244 b receives a stronger signal at a given time.

By way of example, a user may be listening to the headphone device 200over a WI-FI connection in a house via a wireless router and/or wirelessmodem (sometimes referred to herein generally as wireless access point).In this example, the user may initially be in a position where the firstantenna 244 a receives a stronger WI-FI source signal from the wirelessaccess point than the second antenna 244 b. While walking around thehouse wearing the headphones, the strength of signal in each of theantennas 244 a and 244 b will vary greatly based on, for example: (1)the user’s location with respect to the wireless access point, (2)positioning of the user’s head relative to the wireless access point,and/or (3) other items and/or structures in the location that tend toabsorb and/or reflect RF signals. In some embodiments, the communicationcircuitry 247 may be configured to (i) select the antenna 244 a or 244 breceiving a wireless signal and (ii) control the switching circuitry 246to couple the selected antenna to the communication circuitry 247.

In some embodiments, the headphone device 200 is configured to operatein various modes based on the particular type of wireless networkemployed to communicate with the external devices, such as controldevice 130. Example wireless networks include: a WI-FI network, aBluetooth network, an LTE network, a 5G network, a Z-Wave network, and aZigBee network. In one example, a first operation mode may be a WI-FIoperation mode where the headphone device 200 wirelessly communicateswith an external device, such as control device 130 (or any othernetwork device such as a wireless access point, a playback device, anNMD, etc.) over a 2.4 Gigahertz (GHz) WI-FI communication link or a 5GHz WI-FI communication link. In this example, the second operation modemay be a BLUETOOTH operation mode where the headphone device 200wirelessly communicates with the control device 130 (or any othernetwork device such as a wireless access point, a playback device, anNMD, etc.) over a BLUETOOTH communication link. In these embodiments,both antennas 244 a and 244 b are configured to receive both BLUETOOTHand WI-FI signals.

In some embodiments, the user may select a mode of operation by way of acontrol device 130, such as a smartphone (or tablet, computer, or othersuitable computing device configured to communicate with the headphonedevice 200 and run a user-interface program for configuring andcontrolling the headphone device 200), transmitting data to thecommunication circuitry 247. Additionally or alternatively, the user mayselect a mode of operation, for example, by way of the user interface onone of the earpieces 240 a or 240 b. In these examples, the processor112 a may transmit messages to the communication circuitry 247. Thecommunication circuitry 247 is configured to identify a current mode ofoperation from a plurality of modes of operation, e.g., any of the modesof operation disclosed and/or described herein (e.g., WI-FI mode,BLUETOOTH mode, Zigbee mode, LTE mode and so on). The communicationcircuitry 247 is further configured to cause the headphone device 200 towirelessly communicate with at least one external device, such as acontrol device 130 or other network device, based at least in part onthe current mode of operation. The control device 130 may be, forexample, a smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.

Each operating mode may have an associated set of operationalrequirements to account for the various uses and capabilities ofdifferent wireless communication links. By way of example, a WI-FInetwork may be configured throughout an entire house by way of awireless access point. As described above, a user may be walking aroundthe house while listening to music on the headphone device 200. As theuser travels throughout the home, the WI-FI signal strength at eachantenna 244 a and 244 b may vary greatly and frequently based on thelocation and positioning of the user with respect to the wireless accesspoint.

Alternatively, the user may be listening to music via the headphonedevice 200 over a BLUETOOTH communication link, which typically has ashorter range than a WI-FI channel. Although BLUETOOTH has a shorterrange than WI-FI, users may be closer in proximity to the source of theBLUETOOTH signal (i.e., the external or control device), and the sourceof the BLUETOOTH signal may be positioned more consistently with respectto the headphone device 200 (e.g., more consistent relative to a WI-FIuse case where a user may walk around with respect to the access point).For example, the user may be playing music on the headphone device 200over a BLUETOOTH channel from a control device 130, such as asmartphone. In some example scenarios, the user may be walking aroundwith the smartphone on the user’s person (e.g., in the user’s pocket orbag). In another example, the user may be sitting at a desk wearing theheadphone device 200 with the smartphone on the desk. In both examples,the positioning of the antennas 244 a and 244 b remain relativelyconstant with respect to the control device 130. Many other example usecases and operating modes are possible, too.

To account for the varying anticipated use cases between operationalmodes, each mode of operation may have an associated antenna switchingpolicy. An antenna switching policy involves determining when theswitching circuitry 246 should selectively couple the common port of theswitching circuitry 246 to either the first antenna 244 a or the secondantenna 244 b. The antenna switching policy may comprise, for example, aset of criteria that govern when (if any) transitions should occurbetween communicating over the first antenna 244 a and communicatingover the second antenna 244 b. The antenna switching policy may be basedon various measured performance parameters, such as signal strengthreceived at each antenna 244 a and 244 b, a signal to noise ratio (SNR),packet loss, or other suitable communications metric. More specifically,for each operational mode, the headphone device 200 may employ one ormore predetermined performance parameter thresholds (e.g., signalstrength must exceed a predetermined value (or exceed the value for someperiod of time), SNR must be above a threshold value (or exceed thevalue for some period of time), packet loss must be below a certainpacket loss rate, or other suitable metric) to make decisions regardingwhich antenna from a set of antennas to employ for wirelesscommunication. For example, these predetermined performance parametersthresholds may be employed by the headphone device 200 to decide whetherto either continue communicating over a given antenna or switch tocommunicating over another antenna.

In some example embodiments, where one or both of the positioning of theheadphone device 200 with respect to the signal source and/or the signalstrength are expected to have less variation during use (e.g., aBLUETOOTH mode of operation as described above), the communicationcircuitry 247 may initially cause the common port of switching circuitry246 to selectively couple to the antenna 244 a or 244 b that initiallyhas the stronger performance parameters (e.g., greater signal strengthor SNR) when the headphone device 200 first enters an operational mode.Once the common port is selectively coupled to the selected antenna 244a or 244 b, the antenna switching policy for the operational mode mayprovide that the common port remains coupled to the selected antenna 244a or 244 b for the duration of operation in that operational mode. Insome examples, the communication circuitry 247 (e.g., a wirelesstransceiver in the communication circuitry) measures performanceparameters of both antennas 244 a and 244 b nearly simultaneously (e.g.,measure performance parameters on a first antenna, briefly switch to thesecond antenna to measure performance parameters, and then switch backto the first antenna and measure performance parameters). In differentexamples, the communication circuitry 247 measures performanceparameters periodically (or at least quasi -periodically over a durationof time (e.g., measuring performance parameters every 50-100 ms, every250-500 ms, every second, every few seconds, or other suitableduration)).

Additionally or alternatively, in some example embodiments, where one orboth of the positioning of the headphone device 200 with respect to thesignal source and/or the signal strength are expected to vary frequentlyduring use (e.g., a WI-FI mode of operation as described above), theantenna switching policy may involve switching between the two antennas244 a and 244 b based on the measured performance parameters andoperating ranges while the headphone device 200 is in the mode ofoperation.

By way of example, while operating in a first operational mode (e.g.,WI-FI operational mode), the communication circuitry 247 may initiallycause the common port of the switching circuitry 246 to selectivelycouple to the first antenna 244 a because the first antenna 244 a hadstronger measured performance parameters (e.g., greater received signalstrength or (SNR) at a first time or during a first duration of time).At later time, the processor 112 a may again measure the performanceparameters at the first antenna 244 a. If the performance parameters ofthe first antenna 244 a are acceptable (i.e., within the predeterminedoperating range), the common port will remain coupled to the firstantenna 244. Alternatively, if at the later time, the measuredperformance parameters of the first antenna 244 a are outside of thepredetermined operating range over a duration of time (e.g., 50-100 ms,250-500 ms, a second, a few seconds, or other suitable duration), theswitching circuitry 246 may cause the common port to couple to thesecond antenna 244 b.

In a similar example, after selecting an initial antenna (e.g., 244 a),the processor 112 a may again measure and compare performance parametersat both of the antennas 244 a and 244 b at a later time. The switchingcircuitry 246 may cause the common port to couple to the other antenna(e.g., 244 b) when the other antenna has better measured performanceparameters. For example, in operation, the headphone device 200determines, at a plurality of measurement points, which of the twoantennas can provide a better RF signal for the headphone device 200based on one or more performance metrics, e.g., signal strength, SNR,and/or packet loss. And based on the performance metrics determined atindividual measurement points, switches back-and-forth between the twoantennas based on which antenna has the better performance metrics atone or more individual measurement points.

In yet another example, the headphone device 200 may continually (orperiodically, semi -periodically, or in an otherwise irregular butongoing manner) measure performance parameters of one or both of theantennas 244 a and 244 b. In some embodiments, while the headphonedevice 200 is receiving the wireless signal via the first antenna 244 a,the antenna switching policy may include switching from receiving thewireless signal via the first antenna 244 a to receiving the wirelesssignal via the second antenna 244 b if one or more performanceparameters of the first antenna 244 a are outside of a predeterminedoperational range for an duration of time (e.g., the SNR is too low for100 ms, the packet loss is too high for 500 ms, or other suitablemetric/duration threshold).

In some embodiments, this antenna switching process may repeat over atime interval. Different operational modes may use different timeintervals for determining whether to switch between the two antennas.This is desirable as the wireless signal received headphone device 200in some operational modes may vary more frequently than otheroperational modes, as described above. For example, the time intervalfor a BLUETOOTH operational mode may be longer than the time intervalfor a WI-FI operational mode because the wireless signal is typicallyexpected to vary less over time when the headphone device 200 isreceiving data via a BLUETOOTH connection, whereas the wireless signalis typically expected to vary more over time when the headphone device200 is receiving data via a WI-FI connection.

Additionally, the headphone device 200 may be configured to switchbetween operational modes at any time during use. For example, at afirst time, the headphone device 200 may be operating in a firstoperational mode (e.g., a BLUETOOTH mode) applying a first associatedantenna switching policy (e.g., a BLUETOOTH antenna switching policy).At a later time, the headphone device 200 may operate in a secondoperational mode (e.g., a WI-FI mode) applying a second associatedantenna switching policy (e.g., a WI-FI antenna switching policy). Theheadphone device 200 may switch operational modes based on instructionsfrom the user by way of, for example, the control device 130 or the userinterface.

Additionally or alternatively, the headphone device 200 may beconfigured to operate in various operational modes dependent uponmedia-type and/or synchronized devices (e.g., music, home theater,etc.).

For example, one mode may be a synchronized playback mode whereheadphone device 200 plays back audio content that is synchronized withplayback of content output by another device. In one example, thesynchronized playback mode includes a first headphone device playingback audio that is synchronized with a television set’s playback ofvideo corresponding to the audio that the first headphone device isplaying back. In some embodiments, the audio may be home theater orsurround sound audio. In another example, the synchronized playback modeincludes the first headphone device playing back audio that issynchronized with a second headphone device’s playback of the same audiothat the first headphone device is playing. In yet another example, thesynchronized playback mode includes the first playback device playingback audio that is synchronized with both (i) a television set’splayback of video corresponding to the audio that the first headphonedevice is playing back and (ii) a second headphone device’s playback ofthe same audio that the first headphone device is playing. Another modemay be a non-synchronized playback mode where the first headphone deviceplays back audio content that is not synchronized with content output byother devices (e.g., headphone device 200 playing only audio contentwithout synchronization to other devices).

In some embodiments, the synchronized playback mode has a correspondingsynchronized playback mode antenna switching policy, based at least inpart on the requirements for audio and/or video synchronization. Inthese examples, the latency requirements for synchronization arestringent. For example, while a user is watching video content (e.g., amovie) on a television screen and listening to audio content (e.g.,multi-channel surround sound content) corresponding to the videocontent, it is readily apparent when playback of the audio content viathe headphones is not synchronized with playback of the video contentvia a television or other display device. Since packet retransmissionsbecause of packet errors and/or missing packets caused by a weakwireless signal can make it difficult for the headphones to meet thestringent timing and latency requirements for synchronized playback, insome embodiments, the antenna switching policy for the synchronizedplayback mode(s) may involve measuring the performance parameters ateach antenna 244 a and 244 b more frequently and (when necessary)switching between the two antennas more often than the antenna switchingpolicy for the non-synchronized playback mode(s). In operation, the timeintervals between measuring performance parameters may be significantlyshorter when the headphones are operating in a synchronized playbackmode (e.g., between about 10-30 ms, between about 10-20 ms, or about 10ms).

Additionally or alternatively, operating in a synchronized playbackmode, such as a home theater mode, may involve pairing the headphonedevice 200 with other playback devices described herein. In theseexamples, the headphone device 200 may, for example, be grouped in aplayback zone. An example playback scheme may involve muting the otherplayback devices in the playback zone while the headphone device 200 ispaired. For example, when the headphone device 200 is paired in aplayback zone with a home theater system comprising multiple playbackdevices (e.g., a sound bar, a subwoofer, and a plurality of satellitespeakers), the other multiple playback devices may not play back hometheater audio while the headphones are paired with the playback zone andplaying back the home theater audio. In operation, the other multipleplayback devices may mute their playback of the home theater audio, oralternatively, a home theater controller (e.g., a soundbar, surroundsound processor, or other device configured to coordinate surround soundplayback of the home theater audio among the multiple playback devices)may simply not transmit or otherwise provide the home theater audioinformation to the multiple playback devices for playback while theheadphone is paired in the playback zone and configured to playback thehome theater audio. In some embodiments, the surround sound controllertransmits or otherwise provides the home theater audio to the headphonesand coordinates the headphone’s synchronized playback of the hometheater audio with the play back of the home theater audio’scorresponding video by the television or other display screen.

Further, in some examples, multiple headphone devices 200 may be pairedin the playback zone. In these examples, a playback scheme may involveoutputting audio content only on the paired headphone devices 200 andmuting the remaining playback devices in the playback zone. For example,when a first headphone device and a second headphone device are bothpaired in the playback zone with the home theater system comprising themultiple playback devices (e.g., the sound bar, subwoofer, and pluralityof satellite speakers), the other multiple playback devices may not playback the home theater audio while the first and second headphones arepaired with the playback zone and playing back the home theater audio.As described above, the other multiple playback devices may mute theirplayback of the home theater audio, or alternatively, the home theatercontroller may simply not transmit or otherwise provide the home theateraudio information to the multiple playback devices for playback whilethe first and second headphones are paired in the playback zone andconfigured to playback the home theater audio. In some embodiments wheremultiple headphones are paired with the playback zone, the surroundsound controller transmits or otherwise provides the home theater audioto the first and second headphones and coordinates the synchronizedplayback of the home theater audio by the first and second headphoneswith each other and with the play back of the home theater audio’scorresponding video by the television or other display screen.

As described above, the headphone device 200 is, in some embodiments,configured to switch between receiving wireless signals via the firstantenna 244 a and the second antenna 244 b based at least in part onwireless signal conditions and/or the headphone’s configured operatingmode. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2A, the first antenna 244 a andthe communication circuitry 247 are in the first earpiece 240 a and thesecond antenna 244 b is in the second earpiece 240 b. To connect thesecond antenna 244 b in the second earpiece 240 b with the communicationcircuitry 247 in the first earpiece 240 a, the headband includes a cableassembly 248 that connects circuitry (including but not limited to thesecond antenna 244 b, the second transducer 114 b, and/or perhaps othercircuitry (not shown)) disposed within the second earpiece 240 b tocircuitry (including but not limited to one or more of the switchingcircuitry 246, communication circuitry 247, processor 112 a, and/orperhaps other circuitry (not shown)) disposed within the second earpiece240 b). The cable assembly 248 may be constructed as, for example, a setof one or more cables that couple (e.g., electrically couple) one ormore components at least partially housed by the first earpiece 240 awith one or more components at least partially housed by the secondearpiece 240 b. In the context of the antenna switching schemesdisclosed and described herein, the cable assembly 248 connects thesecond antenna 244 b in the second earpiece 240 b with the switchingcircuitry 246 in the first earpiece 240 a so that the switchingcircuitry 246 can selectively connect one of the first antenna 244 a orthe second antenna 244 b to the communication circuitry 247 according toany of the antenna switching protocols disclosed herein.

The cable assembly 248 may be constructed as, for example, a set of oneor more cables (e.g., a set of one or more flexible cables). In someexamples, the cable assembly 248 comprises a coaxial cable that couplesthe second antenna 244 b to the switching circuitry 246. In suchembodiments, the coaxial cable may comprise any combination of thefollowing: (1) one or more inner conductors; (2) one or more insulatorsat least partially disposed around the one or more inner conductors; (3)one or more metallic shields at least partially disposed around the oneor more insulators; and (4) a jacket at least partially disposed aroundthe one or more metallic shields. Although coaxial cables areadvantageous because of durability, low noise, and ease of manufactureand implementation for the example headphone configuration(s) describedherein, the cable assembly 248 may comprise other types of cables inplace of the coaxial cable or in combination with the coaxial cable. Forexample, in some embodiments, the cable assembly 248 may comprise atriaxial cable, a flex cable, a ribbon cable, or any other cableconfiguration suitable for connecting circuitry in the second earpiece240 b with circuitry in the first earpiece 240 a.

In some example embodiments, the headphone device 200 may transmitsignals (e.g., control signals or digital or analog audio signals) overthe coaxial cable in the cable assembly 248 from the first earpiece 240a to the second earpiece 240 b at a lower frequency than the wirelesssignals so as not to interfere with the wireless signals carried by thecoaxial cable. This is desirable to reduce the number of conductorsrequired to be integrated into the cable assembly 248. For example, inoperation, the coaxial cable may communicatively couple both (i)wireless signals at 2.4 GHz (BLUETOOTH or 2.4 GHz WI-FI) and/or 5.0 GHz(e.g., 5.0 GHz WI-FI) received via the second antenna 244 b to theswitching circuitry 246 and (ii) digital and/or analog control signalsand/or audio signals at a frequency lower than the 2.4 GHz BLUETOOTH or2.4 GHz WI-FI bands from the circuitry in the first earpiece 240 a tothe circuitry in the second earpiece 240 b.

In some embodiments, the cable assembly 248 may comprise a plurality ofconductors including, for example, any combination of the followingconductors: (1) one or more conductors for power transfer; (2) one ormore conductors for an I2C communication bus; (3) one or more conductorsfor general-purpose I/O; (4) one or more conductors for detectedwireless signals (e.g., detected via an antenna such as antennas 244 aand 244 b); (5) one or more conductors for audio (e.g., to drive one ormore transducers in, for example, earpiece 240 a or 240 b); and (6) oneor more conductors for microphones (e.g., analog microphones and/ordigital microphones).

In some embodiments, the cable assembly 248 may comprise additionalconductors (e.g., spare conductors) that may be employed in the eventone or more other conductors fail. For example, the headphone device 200may monitor the status of a first set of conductors (e.g., a pair of twoconductors that are employed to drive a transducer) in the cableassembly 248. If the headphone device 200 determines that the first setof conductors are operating normally (e.g., the impedance of theconductors is within a normal operating range), the headphone device 200may continue to use the first set of conductors in the cable assembly248. If the headphones determine that the first set of conductors arenot operating normally (e.g., the impedance of the conductors is outsidethe normal operation range because of a conductor failing), theheadphone device 200 may switch from using the first set of conductorsto the spare set of conductors to enable the headphone device 200 tocontinue operating normally without the consumer having to return theheadphone device 200 for repair.

Further, the cable assembly 248 may, for example, have dimensions thatare sufficiently small so as to be integrated into the headband 242 ofthe headphone device 200. For example, the cable assembly 248 may havean outer diameter that is between 2.5 millimeters (mm) and 4.5 mm and/ora length between 400 mm and 600 mm. To minimize the outer diameter ofthe cable assembly 248, each of the conductors may, in some embodiments,be sized for the particular function of the conductor. For example, theconductors employed to drive a transducer may be larger than theconductors employed for a communication bus (e.g., an I2C bus).Particular example implementations of the cable assembly 248 aredescribed below with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B.

In some example embodiments, the headphone device 200 may furtherinclude one or microphones, such as microphones 115 (FIG. 1F). Themicrophones 115 may be disposed within one or both earpieces 240 a and240 b. Further, when equipped with the microphones 115, headphone device200 can operate as an NMD configured to receive voice input from a userand correspondingly perform one or more operations based on the receivedvoice input. Additionally or alternatively, the microphones 115 may beused for active noise cancellation (ANC) and/or active noise reduction(ANR).

In some embodiments, one or both of the earpieces 240 a may be rotatablewith respect to the headband 242 to provide a more comfortable fit forthe user/wearer. More specifically, the earpieces 240 a and 240 b maypivot with respect to the headband 242. For example, the headband mayconnect to the earpieces 240 a and 240 b by way of a rotatable hinge orother suitable connecting mechanism capable of facilitating rotation orother movement of the earpieces relative to the headband 242 to providea comfortable fit for the wearer. In another example, the headband 242may connect to the earpieces 240 a and 240 b by way of two rotatablehinges near the outer edges of the earpieces 240 a and 240 b.

Referring to FIG. 2B, in some embodiments the earpieces 240 a and 240 bmay include a first member 243 attached to the headband 242 and a secondmember 241 that pivots about the axis 249 relative to the first member243. In these examples, the ear cushions 245 a and 245 b may bedisposed, for example, on the second member 241, closer to theuser/wearer’s head. Any of the circuitry and electrical componentsdescribed herein may be disposed in either the first member 243 or thesecond member 241. For example, the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b may bedisposed in the first member 243.

In operation, movement and/or rotation of the antennas 244 a and 244 bcaused by movement and/or rotation of the earpieces may negativelyimpact the performance of the antennas 244 a and 244 b. For example,antennas 244 a and 244 b may be tuned for operation at a particularlocation (e.g., with respect to the average user’s head). As theantennas 244 a and 244 b move to different locations (e.g., with respectto the user’s head) due to user adjustment of the earpieces fordifferent head-sizes (and/or different comfort levels and/or use-cases),the antennas 244 a and 244 b may effectively become detuned and provideinferior performance (e.g., undesirably increase the amount of power theantennas reflect back at the transmitter during wireless transmission).To minimize movement and rotation of the antennas 244 a and 244 b, theantennas 244 a and 244 b may be integrated into the earpieces so as tominimize (or substantially reduce) the movement of the antennas 244 aand 244 b as the earpieces move.

In some embodiments, the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b may be at leastpartially disposed along the pivot axis 249 (e.g., and at leastpartially housed by the first member 243) to avoid or at least reducemovement of the antennas 244 a and 244 b as, for example, the firstmember 243 rotates with respect to the second member 241. For example,any portion of the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b (including any connectionpoints between the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b and other elements) maybe disposed along the pivot axis 249. Example connection points for theantennas 244 a and/or 244 b and other elements include: (1) theconnection point between the antenna and a ground plane; and (2) theconnection point between the antenna and a feed line. In some examples,a portion of the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b (including any connectionpoints between the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b and other elements) maybe directly disposed along the pivot axis 249. In other examples, aportion of the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b (including any connectionpoints between the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b and other elements) maybe disposed within a limited range of the pivot axis 249 (e.g., within30 millimeters, 25 millimeters, 20 millimeters, 15 millimeters, within10 millimeters, within 5 millimeters, within 2 millimeters, within 1millimeter, etc.).

Further, in some embodiments, the antennas 244 a and 244 b employ ametal accent on the exterior of each earpiece 240 a and 240 b as aground plane for the antennas 244 a and 244 b. The ground plane may, forexample, be a conductor that is large relative to the wavelength of thetransmitted electromagnetic waves for performing the grounding function.It should be appreciated that other pieces of metal within the earpieces240 a and/or 240 b may also be employed as a ground plane for theantennas 244 a and/or 244 b. For example, the earpieces 240 a and/or 240b may house a metal heatsink to cool one or more electronic components.In this example, the heatsink may be employed as a ground plane for oneor more of antennas 244 a and 244 b.

It should be appreciated that the antennas 244 a and/or 244 b may bedisposed in portions of the housing other than the earpieces 240 a and240 b. In some embodiments, one or more of the antennas 244 a and/or 244b may be at least partially disposed in the headband 242. For example,antenna 244 a may be disposed in a first side of the headband 242 (e.g.,proximate the left earpiece) and the antenna 244 b may be disposed in asecond side of the headband 242 that is opposite the first side (e.g.,proximate the right earpiece).

IV. Example Communication Systems

FIGS. 3-5 , show example communication systems (shown as communicationsystems 300, 400A, 400B, and 500 in FIGS. 3, 4A, 4B, and 5 ,respectively) that include example switching circuitry 246 and/orcommunication circuitry 247 configurations. The communication systems300, 400A, 400B, and 500 may be implemented in, for example, any of avariety of network devices including, for example, the headphone device200.

Referring to FIG. 3 , in some embodiments, the communication circuitry247 is coupled to a common port of the switching circuitry 246 andcomprises a front-end circuit 352, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter362, a transceiver 364, and a band-pass filter (BPF) 366. Optionally, insome embodiments, the SAW filter 362 and/or the BPF 366 may be includedin the front-end circuit 352. Depending on where the switching circuitry246 is housed, the switching circuitry 246 may be coupled to one or bothantennas 244 a and 244 b by way of the cable assembly 248. For example,in the context of the headphone device 200, if the switching circuitry246 is housed in the first earpiece 240 a, the switching circuitry 246may be coupled to the second antenna 244 b by way of the cable assembly248 housed in the headband 242. Further, in some embodiments, thetransceiver 364 may be coupled to the one or more processors 112 a. Thetransceiver 364 may be configured for operation in multiple modes (e.g.,a 2.4 GHz WI-FI operation mode, a 5.0 GHz WI-FI operation mode, and/or aBLUETOOTH operation mode).

In some embodiments, the switching circuitry 246 may be configured toselectively couple one of antennas 244 a and 244 b to the communicationcircuitry 247 based on a received control signal. The switchingcircuitry 246 may be implemented using, for example, one or moreswitches such as a single-pole, double throw switch (SP2T) switch. Insome examples, the control signal may be generated by, for example, thetransceiver 364 (e.g., provided via a second control port (CTRL2)). Inthese examples, the transceiver 364 may comprise one or more networkprocessors that execute instructions stored in a memory (e.g., a memorywithin the transceiver 364 such as an internal read-only memory (ROM) oran internal read-write memory) that causes the transceiver 364 toperform various operations. An antenna switching program (e.g., thatcontrols the switching circuitry 246 in accordance with the methodsdescribed herein) may be stored in the memory and executed by the one ormore network processors to cause the transceiver 364 to generate andprovide control signals to the switching circuitry 246. In otherexamples, the control signal for the switching circuitry 246 may begenerated by the processor 112 a instead of the transceiver 364.

In some embodiments, the front-end circuit 352 may further include adiplexer 354 comprising (i) a first port coupled to a SP2T switch 356,(ii) a second port coupled to a single pole, triple throw (SP3T) switch358, and (iii) a third port coupled to the switching circuitry 246. Thediplexer 354 is configured to separate multiple channels, for example,using one or more filters. More specifically, the diplexer 354 receivesa wide-band input from one or more of the antennas 244 a and 244 b(e.g., via the switching circuitry 246) and provides multiplenarrow-band outputs. For example, the diplexer 354 may provide a firstnarrow-band output for a 5 GHz frequency band at the first port to SP2Tswitch 356 and provide a second narrow-band output for a 2.4 GHzfrequency band at the second port to SP3T switch 358.

In some embodiments, SP2T switch 356 comprises a first port coupled to alow noise amplifier (LNA) 360 a, a second port coupled to a firsttransmit port (TX1) of the transceiver 364 (e.g., a 5.0 GHz WI-FItransmit port), and a common port coupled to the diplexer 354. The SP2Tswitch 356 is configured to selectively couple the common port of theSP2T switch 356 to either the first port or the second port of the SP2Tswitch 356 based on a received control signal. The control signal may beprovided by, for example, the transceiver 364 (e.g., via a first controlport (CTRL1) of the transceiver 364).

In some embodiments, SP3T switch 358 comprises a first port coupled toLNA 360 b, a second port coupled to a second transmit port (TX2) of thetransceiver 364 (e.g., a 2.4 GHz WI-FI transmit port), a third portcoupled to a third transmit port (TX3) of the transceiver 364 (e.g., aBLUETOOTH transmit port), and a common port coupled to the diplexer 354.The SP3T switch 358 is configured to selectively couple the common portof the SP3T switch 358 to either the first port, the second port, or thethird port of the SP3T switch 358 based on a received control signal.The control signal may be provided by, for example, the transceiver 364(e.g., via the first control port (CTRL1) of the transceiver 364).

In some embodiments, each of the LNAs 360 a and 360 b are furthercoupled to a first receive port (RX1) (e.g., a 5.0 GHz WI-FI receiveport) and a second receive port (RX2) (e.g., a 2.4 GHz WI-FI and/orBLUETOOTH receive port), respectively, of the transceiver 364. Inoperation, the LNAs 360 a and 360 b amplify the wireless signalsdetected by the antennas prior to being received by the transceiver 364(which may contain additional amplifiers such as additional LNAs) toimprove receive sensitivity of the communication system 300. Abypass-switch may be coupled in parallel with each of the LNAs 360 a and360 b that may be controlled by the transceiver 364 (e.g., via the firstcontrol port CTRL1 of the transceiver 364). In operation, thebypass-switch allows the transceiver 364 (or other control circuitry) toclose the bypass-switch when the signal received at the transceiver 364is above a threshold to avoid saturation of one or more amplifiers inthe transceiver 364. Thus, the bypass-switch may be open when the signalreceived at the transceiver 364 has an amplitude below a threshold toimprove receive sensitivity and closed when the signal received at thetransceiver 364 has an amplitude above the threshold to avoid amplifiersaturation.

The SAW filter 362 is desirable in some embodiments to filter outexternal noise from the environment. In a standard operatingenvironment, there may be a lot of noise near and in the 2.4 GHz bandincluding, for example, noise from cordless home phones, cell phones,etc. In operation, the SAW filter 362 is configured to remove suchwireless signal interference in the operating environment. The SAWfilter 362 may be designed as a BPF, a low-pass filter, and/or ahigh-pass filter. It should be appreciated that filters separate andapart from a SAW may be employed in place of (or in combination with)SAW filter 362. Other example types of filters include crystal filters(e.g., quartz crystal filters) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters.

The BPF 366 may be desirable in some embodiments to reduce out-of-bandenergy in the output from the transceiver 364 (e.g., from the secondtransmit port TX2). For example, the output of the output of thetransceiver 364 may comprise some energy that if out-of-band whenoutputting a wireless signal in a channel that is on the edge of theband (e.g., channel 1 or channel 11 in a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band). The BPF366 may, in some implementations, be implemented as a controllable BPF.For example, the BPF 366 may comprise a BPF and one or more switchesthat either allow the BPF to be incorporated into the signal pathbetween the transceiver 364 and the SP3T switch 358 or bypassed. In thisexample, the transceiver 364 may provide a control signal to thecontrollable BPF to either have the BPF be included in the signal pathor bypassed.

In some embodiments, the switching circuitry 246 (and the associatedantenna switching techniques) may be replaced by a splitter as shown bycommunication system 400A in FIG. 4A. Relative to communication system300 in FIG. 3 , the switching circuitry 246 is replaced by a splitter466 in communication system 400A. The splitter 466 may be configured toboth non-coherently combine the outputs from the antennas 244 a and 244b and split a signal received from the diplexer 354 to provide an outputto both antenna 244 a and 244 b. The splitter 466 may be implemented as,for example, a wide-band splitter configured to combine and splitsignals within a range of frequencies that includes at least twofrequency bands (e.g., a 2.4 GHz frequency band and a 5 GHz frequencyband). As a result, the two antennas 244 a and 244 b may be seen by thetransceiver 364 as a single antenna with a larger radiation pattern thatcombines the radiation patterns of each of antennas 244 a and 244 b.

Further, employing an RF splitter 466, rather than the switch 350, mayprovide various benefits relative to other approaches. For example, thelatency of the communication system 400A may be reduced relative toother approaches, which may be desirable while operating, for example,in the synchronized playback mode(s). The latency reduction may resultfrom any combination of the following: (1) removing the need to computewhich antenna 244 a or 244 b to switch to and the associated switchingtime; and (2) fewer lost packets that would otherwise requireretransmission because the scenario where a sub-optimal antenna isselected for a given moment is avoided.

In some embodiments, the splitter 466 shown in FIG. 4A may be replacedwith multiple splitters as shown in FIG. 4B by communication system400B. Relative to the communication system 400A, the communicationsystem 400B removes the diplexer 354 and replaces the splitter 466 witha double, pole double throw (DP2T) switch 468, a first splitter 466 a,and a second splitter 466 b. DP2T switch 468 may be configured toselectively couple both antennas 212 a and 212 b to either splitter 466a or splitter 466 b based on a control signal (e.g., a control signalreceived from a second control port (CTRL2) in transceiver 364). Byincorporating additional splitters into the communication system asshown in FIG. 4B, a single wide-band splitter may be replaced withmultiple narrow-band splitters each configured to combine and splitsignals in different frequency bands (e.g., non-overlapping frequencybands). For example, the splitter 466 a may be a narrow-band splitterconfigured to combine and split signals in a 5 GHz frequency band andthe splitter 466 b may be a narrow-band splitter configured to combineand split signals in a 2.4 GHz frequency band.

In some embodiments, the switching circuitry 246 may be removed in favorof a 2x2 multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) design that enables thetransceiver 364 to independently receive (and transmit) wireless signalsvia antennas 244 a and 244 b. 2x2 MIMO systems may offer variousadvantages over other designs such as facilitating use of processingtechniques that combine (e.g., coherently combine) the output of each ofantennas 244 a and 244 b. For example, a 2x2 MIMO system may supportMaximum-Ratio Combining (MRC) where the signals from the antennas 244 aand 244 b may be coherently combined using a weighting factor for eachsignal stream (e.g., a weighting factor that is proportional to thesignal amplitude).

An example of such a communication system that implements a 2x2 MIMOdesign is shown in FIG. 6 by communication system 600. Relative to thecommunication system 300 shown in FIG. 3 , the communication system 600removes the switching circuitry 246 such that the front-end circuit 352(now shown as 352 a) is coupled to the antenna 244 a, adds a secondfront-end circuit 352 b coupled between the antenna 244 b and thetransceiver 364, adds a second SAW filter 356 b (original SAW filter 356from FIG. 3 is shown as 356 a), and adds a second BPF 366 b (originallyBPF 366 from FIG. 3 is shown as BPF 366 a).

In some embodiments, the construction of the second front-end circuit352 b may be similar to (or the same as) the construction of the firstfront-end circuit 352 a. For example, the diplexer 354 b, SP2T switch356 b, LNA 360 c, and LNA 360 d may be the same as diplexer 354 a, SP2Tswitch 356 a, LNA 360 a, and LNA 360 b, respectively. SP3T switch 358 amay be replaced with SP2T switch 356 c instead of another SP3T, as shownin communication system 600, in implementations where the transceiver364 transmits a particular type of signal (e.g., BLUETOOTH signals) overa single antenna (e.g., antenna 244 a) while transmitting other types ofsignals (e.g., 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz WI-FI signals) over both antennas.

It should be appreciated that one or more components may be added toand/or removed from the communication systems shown in FIGS. 3, 4A, 4B,and 5 without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Forexample, the communication systems may comprise additional filters,amplifiers, switches, cables, antennas, and/or diplexers than what it isshown in FIGS. 3, 4A, 4B, and 5 . Additionally (or alternatively), oneor more of the filters (e.g., BPF 366, SAW 356, etc.), amplifiers (e.g.,LNAs 360 a, 360 b, etc.), switches (e.g., bypass switch(es), SP2T 356,SP3T 358, etc.), cables (e.g., cable assembly 248 or any portionthereof), antennas (e.g., antennas 244 a, 244 b, etc.), and/or diplexers(e.g., diplexer 354, etc.) may be removed from the communication systemsshown in FIGS. 3, 4A, 4B, and 5 .

V. Example Cable Assemblies

FIGS. 6A and 6B each depict an example cross-section of a cable assemblythat may be employed as cable assembly 248. The cable assemblies 600Aand 600B shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, respectively, each comprise aplurality of conductors (shown as conductors 601-618), insulation (shownas insulation 619 and 621), and cable jackets (shown as jackets 620 and622).

As shown in FIG. 6A by cable assembly 600A, the cable assembly 248 may,in some embodiments, be implemented as a single cable bundle thatcomprises an inner coaxial cable formed by conductor 607, insulation619, conductor 608, and jacket 622. The cable assembly 600A furthercomprises a set of conductors (shown as conductors 601-606 and 609-618)disposed between the inner coaxial cable and the cable jacket 620.

As shown in FIG. 6B by cable assembly 600B, the cable assembly 248 may,in some embodiments, be implemented using a set of multiple distinctcables. In particular, the coaxial cable formed by conductor 607,insulation 619, conductor 608, and jacket 622 may be separated from theremainder of the conductors (shown as conductors 601-606 and 609-618).As a result, the cable assembly 600B comprises multiple cables includinga first cable (e.g., a coaxial cable) formed by conductor 607,insulation 619, conductor 608, and jacket 622 and a second cable formedby conductors 601-606 and 609-618, insulation 621, and jacket 620.

In some embodiments, one or more of the conductors 601-618 may bearranged in twisted pairs. For example, the conductors that support acommunication bus (e.g., an I2C bus) and/or general purpose I/O may bearranged in twisted pairs. Arranging the conductors in such a fashion(e.g., as a twisted pair) may advantageously reduce electromagneticradiation, reduce crosstalk, and improve noise rejection.

In some embodiments, one or more of the conductors 601-618 may bestranded conductors. For example, the conductors that transfer powerand/or carry audio signals (e.g., originating from a microphone or beingprovided to a transducer) may be stranded to advantageously improve theflexibility of the cable assembly. These stranded conductors may beinsulated using, for example, a thin film polymer and/or an enamel typeinsulation.

The structure and function of the particular conductors 601-618 shown inFIGS. 6A and 6B may vary based on the particular implementation. Oneexample implementation of each of conductor 601-618 in FIGS. 6A and 6Bis shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1 Example Cable Assembly Specification for Cable Assemblies shownin FIGS. 6A and 6B Element Number Type Alternate Type Diameter/AWGFunction Impedance 601 Single Conductor Stranded 0.4 mm / 26 AWG PWR +602 Single Conductor Stranded 0.4 mm / 26 AWG PWR- 603 Twisted PairMicro Coax 0.25 mm /30 AWG GPIO/INT 50 Ohm 604 605 Twisted Pair MicroCoax 0.25 mm /30 AWG I2C 50 Ohm 606 607 Coax 1.13 - 1.37 mm Antenna 50Ohm 608 609 Single Conductor Stranded 0.4 mm / 26 AWG Audio + 610 SingleConductor Stranded 0.4 mm / 26 AWG Audio - 611 Single Conductor Stranded0.2 mm / 32 AWG Digital Mic + 612 Single Conductor Stranded 0.2 mm / 32AWG Digital Mic - 613 Single Conductor Stranded 0.2 mm / 32 AWG AnalogMic + 614 Single Conductor Stranded 0.2 mm / 32 AWG Analog Mic - 615Single Conductor Stranded 0.2 mm / 32 AWG Analog Mic + 616 SingleConductor Stranded 0.2 mm / 32 AWG Analog Mic - 617 Single ConductorStranded 0.2 mm / 32 AWG Spare 618 Single Conductor Stranded 0.2 mm / 32AWG Spare

It should be appreciated that the particular implementation ofconductors 601-618 shown Table 1 above is only one exampleimplementation and the conductors 601-618 may be constructed in otherways. For example, cable assembly may use additional conductors or fewerconductors (e.g., to accommodate a different number of components suchas microphones). Further, the diameter of any portion of the conductors601-618 may be changed (e.g., to accommodate for different impedancerequirements).

VI. Example Methods

As discussed above, in some examples, a headphone device is configuredto operate according multiple operational modes and antenna switchingpolicies. FIG. 7 shows an example embodiment of a method 700 for aheadphone device 200 employing multiple operational modes and antennaswitching techniques.

Method 700 can be implemented by any of the playback devices (e.g.,headphone device 200) disclosed herein, individually or in combinationwith any of the computing systems (e.g., computing system(s) 106) and/oruser devices (e.g., user devices 130) disclosed herein, or any othercomputing system(s) and/or user device(s) now known or later developed.

Method 700 begins at block 702, which includes identifying a currentmode of operation from a plurality of modes of operation including afirst mode of operation and a second mode of operation that is differentfrom the first mode of operation.

For example, in some embodiments, the first mode of operation comprisesone of: (i) a standalone BLUETOOTH mode of operation where the headphoneis playing back audio content that is not synchronized with playback ofcorresponding video content; (ii) a synchronized BLUETOOTH mode ofoperation where the headphone is playing back audio content (e.g., hometheater or surround sound audio) that is synchronized with playback ofcorresponding video content by a television or other display device;(iii) a synchronized BLUETOOTH mode of operation where the headphone isplaying back audio content that is synchronized with playback of audiocontent by another headphone device; (iv) a synchronized BLUETOOTH modeoperation where the headphone is playing back audio content (e.g., hometheater or surround sound) that is synchronized with both (iv-a)playback of the audio content in synchrony with another headphone deviceand (iv-b) playback of corresponding video content by a television orother display device; (v) a standalone 2.4 GHz WI-FI mode of operationwhere the headphone is playing back audio content that is notsynchronized with playback of corresponding video content; (vi) asynchronized 2.4 GHz WI-FI mode of operation where the headphone isplaying back audio content (e.g., home theater or surround sound audio)that is synchronized with playback of corresponding video content by atelevision or other display device; (vii) a synchronized 2.4 GHz WI-FImode of operation where the headphone is playing back audio content thatis synchronized with playback of audio content by another headphonedevice; (viii) a synchronized 2.4 GHz WI-FI mode operation where theheadphone is playing back audio content (e.g., home theater or surroundsound) that is synchronized with both (viii-a) playback of the audiocontent in synchrony with another headphone device and (viii-b) playbackof corresponding video content by a television or other display device;(ix) a standalone 5.0 GHz WI-FI mode of operation where the headphone isplaying back audio content that is not synchronized with playback ofcorresponding video content; (x) a synchronized 5.0 GHz WI-FI mode ofoperation where the headphone is playing back audio content (e.g., hometheater or surround sound audio) that is synchronized with playback ofcorresponding video content by a television or other display device;(xi) a synchronized 5.0 GHz WI-FI mode of operation where the headphoneis playing back audio content that is synchronized with playback ofaudio content by another headphone device; and (xii) a synchronized 5.0GHz WI-FI mode operation where the headphone is playing back audiocontent (e.g., home theater or surround sound) that is synchronized withboth (xii-a) playback of the audio content in synchrony with anotherheadphone device and (xii-b) playback of corresponding video content bya television or other display device. And in some embodiments, thesecond mode of operation comprises one of the above-listed modes ofoperation other than the first mode of operation.

At block 704, method 700 further includes wirelessly communicating withat least one external device based on the current mode of operation.

For example, in some embodiments, while in any of the above-listedBLUETOOTH modes of operation, the headphone device (e.g., communicationcircuitry 247) is configured to selectively connect (e.g., viacontrolling the switching circuitry 246) one of the first antenna 244 aor the second antenna 244 b to appropriate inputs of the transceiver 364to process BLUETOOTH signals received via the first or second antennafrom an external computing device (e.g., a smart phone, surround soundcontroller, sound bar, tablet computer or other computing device)configured to communicate with the headphone device via BLUETOOTH.

Similarly, while in any of the above-listed 2.4 GHz WI-FI modes ofoperation, the headphone device (e.g., communication circuitry 247) isconfigured to selectively connect (e.g., via controlling the switchingcircuitry 246) one of the first antenna 244 a or the second antenna 244b to appropriate inputs of the transceiver 364 to process 2.4 GHz WI-FIsignals received via the first or second antenna from an externalcomputing device (e.g., a smart phone, surround sound controller, soundbar, tablet computer or other computing device) configured tocommunicate with the headphones via a 2.4 GHz WI-FI communicationchannel.

And, while in any of the above-listed 5.0 GHz WI-FI modes of operation,the headphone device (e.g., communication circuitry 247) is configuredto selectively connect (e.g., via controlling the switching circuitry246) one of the first antenna 244 a or the second antenna 244 b toappropriate inputs of the transceiver 364 to process 5.0 GHz WI-FIsignals received via the first or second antenna from an externalcomputing device (e.g., a smart phone, surround sound controller, soundbar, tablet computer or other computing device) configured tocommunicate with the headphones via a 5.0 GHz WI-FI communicationchannel.

At block 706, method 700 further includes, while the current mode ofoperation is the first mode of operation, selectively coupling either afirst antenna at least partially disposed in the first earpiece or asecond antenna at least partially disposed in the second earpiece tocommunication circuitry in accordance with a first antenna switchingpolicy.

For example, in some embodiments, when the first mode of operation isone of the above-described BLUETOOTH modes of operation, selectivelycoupling either a first antenna at least partially disposed in the firstearpiece or a second antenna at least partially disposed in the secondearpiece to communication circuitry in accordance with a first antennaswitching policy, a block 706 includes one or more of the following: (i)when first entering the BLUETOOTH mode of operation, determining whichof the first or second antenna has better wireless performance metrics(e.g., higher signal strength, greater SNR, lower packet loss) based onan initial wireless signal assessment, (ii) selecting, from the firstand second antennas, the antenna having the better wireless performancemetrics, and (iii) controlling the switching circuitry 246 to connectthe transceiver 364 to the selected antenna.

In some BLUETOOTH modes of operation, when the corresponding antennaswitching policy includes the headphone continuing to receive BLUETOOTHsignals via the initially-selected antenna during the duration of alistening session. But in some BLUETOOTH modes of operation, thecorresponding antenna switching policy includes the headphone continuingto receive BLUETOOTH signals via the initially-selected antenna for somecomparatively long duration of time, e.g., a few seconds to a fewminutes, before performing the functions of (i) determining which of thefirst or second antenna has better wireless performance metrics (e.g.,higher signal strength, greater SNR, lower packet loss) based on awireless signal assessment, (ii) in response to determining that thewireless performance metrics for the currently selected antenna arebetter (or in some embodiments, not worse by some threshold amount,e.g., worse by 10%, 20%, or some other suitable threshold) than thewireless performance metrics of the non-selected antenna, continuing toreceive BLUETOOTH wireless signals via the selected antenna, or (iii) inresponse to determining that the wireless performance metrics for thenon-selected antenna are better (or in some embodiments, better by somethreshold amount, e.g., better by 10%, 20%, or some other suitablethreshold) than the wireless performance metrics of thecurrently-selected antenna, (iii-a) selecting the other antenna and(iii-b) controlling the switching circuitry 246 to connect thetransceiver 364 to the selected other antenna. In some embodiments, thecorresponding antenna switching policy includes the headphone devicecontinuing to reassess wireless metrics for the first and secondantennas in an on-going manner (e.g., every few seconds to every fewminutes) and switching between receiving BLUETOOTH signals via one ofthe first or second antennas based on the wireless performance metrics.

In another example, in some embodiments, when the first mode ofoperation is one of the above-described 2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz WI-FI modesof operation, selectively coupling either a first antenna at leastpartially disposed in the first earpiece or a second antenna at leastpartially disposed in the second earpiece to communication circuitry inaccordance with a first antenna switching policy a block 706 includesone or more of the following: (i) when first entering the WI-FI mode ofoperation, determining which of the first or second antenna has betterwireless performance metrics (e.g., higher signal strength, greater SNR,lower packet loss) based on an initial wireless signal assessment, (ii)selecting, from the first and second antennas, the antenna having thebetter wireless performance metrics, and (iii) controlling the switchingcircuitry 246 to connect the transceiver 364 to the selected antenna.

In some WI-FI modes of operation, the headphone is configured tocontinue receiving WI-FI signals via the initially-selected antennaduring the duration of a listening session.

But in some WI-FI modes of operation, the corresponding antennaswitching policy includes the headphone continuing to receive WI-FIsignals via the initially-selected antenna for some comparatively shortduration of time, e.g., a few milliseconds to a few seconds, beforeperforming the functions of (i) determining which of the first or secondantenna has better wireless performance metrics (e.g., higher signalstrength, greater SNR, lower packet loss) based on a wireless signalassessment, (ii) in response to determining that the wirelessperformance metrics for the currently selected antenna are better (or insome embodiments, not worse by some threshold amount, e.g., worse by10%, 20%, or some other suitable threshold) than the wirelessperformance metrics of the non-selected antenna, continuing to receiveWI-FI wireless signals via the selected antenna, or (iii) in response todetermining that the wireless performance metrics for the non-selectedantenna are better (or in some embodiments, better by some thresholdamount, e.g., better by 10%, 20%, or some other suitable threshold) thanthe wireless performance metrics of the currently-selected antenna,(iii-a) selecting the other antenna and (iii-b) controlling theswitching circuitry 246 (e.g., any of the switching circuitry 246configurations disclosed herein) to connect the transceiver 364 to theselected other antenna. In some embodiments, the corresponding antennaswitching policy includes the headphone continuing to reassess wirelessmetrics for the first and second antennas in an on-going manner (e.g.,every few seconds to every few minutes) and switching between receivingWI-FI signals via one of the first or second antennas based on thewireless performance metrics.

In addition to different operating modes based on the type of wirelessprotocol (e.g., BLUETOOTH vs. WI-FI wireless protocols), the headphonesin some embodiments may additionally or alternatively be configured fordifferent operating modes (with different corresponding antennaswitching policies) based on the type of media content that theheadphones are playing. For example, the headphones may be configuredfor: (i) an operating mode for listening to audio from an audio source(via BLUETOOTH or WI-FI) in a standalone configuration (i.e., audioplayback not synchronized with another device), (ii) an operating modefor listening to music from a music source in synchrony with one or moreadditional headphones or other playback devices (via BLUETOOTH orWI-FI), or (iii) an operating mode for listening to home theater orsurround sound audio in synchrony with playback of video correspondingto the home theater or surround sound audio by a television or otherdisplay device (via BLUETOOTH or WI-FI).

In some embodiments, when the mode of operation is for listening toaudio from an audio source (via BLUETOOTH or WI-FI) in a standalonemanner (i.e., without synchronizing the playback of the audio withplayback of audio or video by another playback device), selectivelycoupling either a first antenna at least partially disposed in the firstearpiece or a second antenna at least partially disposed in the secondearpiece to communication circuitry in accordance with a first antennaswitching policy a block 706 includes one or more of the following: (i)when first entering the standalone mode of operation, determining whichof the first or second antenna has better wireless performance metrics(e.g., higher signal strength, greater SNR, lower packet loss) based onan initial wireless signal assessment, (ii) selecting, from the firstand second antennas, the antenna having the better wireless performancemetrics, and (iii) controlling the switching circuitry 246 to connectthe transceiver 364 to the selected antenna.

In some standalone modes of operation (e.g., some standalone BLUETOOTHmodes of operation), the headphone is configured to continue receivingwireless signals via the initially-selected antenna during the durationof a listening session. But in some standalone modes of operation (e.g.,some standalone WI-FI modes of operation), the headphone is configuredto continue receiving wireless signals via the initially-selectedantenna for some comparatively long duration of time, e.g., a fewminutes, before performing further functions comprising (i) determiningwhich of the first or second antenna has better wireless performancemetrics (e.g., higher signal strength, greater SNR, lower packet loss)based on a wireless signal assessment, (ii) in response to determiningthat the wireless performance metrics for the currently selected antennaare better (or in some embodiments, not worse by some threshold amount,e.g., worse by 10%, 20%, or some other suitable threshold) than thewireless performance metrics of the non-selected antenna, continuing toreceive wireless signals via the selected antenna, or (iii) in responseto determining that the wireless performance metrics for thenon-selected antenna are better (or in some embodiments, better by somethreshold amount, e.g., better by 10%, 20%, or some other suitablethreshold) than the wireless performance metrics of thecurrently-selected antenna, (iii-a) selecting the other antenna and(iii-b) controlling the switching circuitry 246 to connect thetransceiver 364 to the selected other antenna.

In other examples, in some embodiments, when the mode of operation isfor playing audio from an audio source (via BLUETOOTH or WI-FI) insynchrony with playback of audio or video by another playback device,selectively coupling either a first antenna at least partially disposedin the first earpiece or a second antenna at least partially disposed inthe second earpiece to communication circuitry in accordance with afirst antenna switching policy a block 706 includes one or more of thefollowing: (i) when first entering the synchronized mode of operation,determining which of the first or second antenna has better wirelessperformance metrics (e.g., higher signal strength, greater SNR, lowerpacket loss) based on an initial wireless signal assessment, (ii)selecting, from the first and second antennas, the antenna having thebetter wireless performance metrics, and (iii) controlling the switchingcircuitry 246 to connect the transceiver 364 to the selected antenna.

In some synchronized modes of operation (e.g., a home theater mode), theheadphone is configured to continue receiving wireless signals via theinitially-selected antenna for some comparatively short duration of time(e.g. between about 10 ms and a few seconds, between about 10 ms and 1second, between about 10-500 ms, between about 10-100 ms, or betweenabout 10-50 ms), before again performing the functions of (i)determining which of the first or second antenna has better wirelessperformance metrics (e.g., higher signal strength, greater SNR, lowerpacket loss) based on a wireless signal assessment, (ii) in response todetermining that the wireless performance metrics for the currentlyselected antenna are better (or in some embodiments, not worse by somethreshold amount, e.g., worse by 10%, 20%, or some other suitablethreshold) than the wireless performance metrics of the non-selectedantenna, continuing to receive wireless signals via the selectedantenna, or (iii) in response to determining that the wirelessperformance metrics for the non-selected antenna are better (or in someembodiments, better by some threshold amount, e.g., better by 10%, 20%,or some other suitable threshold) than the wireless performance metricsof the currently-selected antenna, (iii-a) selecting the other antennaand (iii-b) controlling the switching circuitry 246 to connect thetransceiver 364 to the selected other antenna. In operation, in somesynchronized modes of operation, the headphone may assess wirelessmetrics for the first and second antennas in an on-going manner (e.g.between about 10 ms and a few seconds, between about 10 ms and 1 second,between about 10-500 ms, between about 10-100 ms, or between about 10-50ms) and switch between receiving wireless signals via one of the firstor second antennas based on which of the two antennas have the betterwireless performance metrics.

At block 708, method 700 further includes, while the current mode ofoperation is the second mode of operation, selectively coupling eitherthe first antenna or the second antenna to the communication circuitryin accordance with a second antenna switching policy that is differentfrom the first antenna switching policy. In some embodiments, theheadphone may switch from operating in the first mode of operation tooperating in the second mode of operation in response to (i) switchingfrom receiving audio content via BLUETOOTH to receiving audio contentvia 2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz WI-FI (or vice versa), and/or (ii) switching fromoperating in a standalone mode (not playing audio content in synchronywith another device) to operating in a paired mode (playing the audiocontent in synchrony with one or both of (i) a video device’s playbackof video content corresponding to the audio content and/or (ii) a secondplayback device’s playback of the audio content). Because each mode ofoperation has its own corresponding antenna switching policy, switchingfrom operating in the first mode of operation to operating in the secondmode of operation results in the headphone switching from implementing afirst antenna switching policy to implementing a second antennaswitching policy.

In some embodiments, as part of implementing the second antennaswitching policy, block 708 may include measuring at least oneperformance parameter during a first duration of time while wirelesslycommunicating with the at least one external device using the firstantenna. Further, block 708 may include determining whether the at leastone performance parameter measured during the first duration of time isoutside a first operating range and causing the switching circuitry tocouple the second antenna to the communication circuitry responsive todetermining that the at least one performance parameter measured duringthe first duration of time is outside the first operating range.

Additionally, in some embodiments, block 708 may include measuring theat least one performance parameter during a second duration of timewhile wirelessly communicating with the at least one external deviceusing the first antenna, wherein the second duration of time is longerthan the first duration of time. Further, block 708 may includedetermining whether the at least one performance parameter measuredduring the second duration of time is outside a second operating rangeand causing the switching circuitry to couple the second antenna to thecommunication circuitry responsive to determining that the at least oneperformance metric measured during the second duration of time isoutside the second operating range.

For example, in operation, while implementing the second antennaswitching policy in some embodiments, block 708 includes one or more ofthe following: (i) measuring one or more wireless performance metrics ofthe first antenna and the second antenna, and (ii) selectively switchingbetween receiving audio content via one or the first antenna or thesecond antenna based on which of the first or second antennas have thebetter wireless performance metrics. In some embodiments, the headphone,while operating in the second operating mode, is configured toselectively switch between the first and second antennas based onwireless performance metrics in block 708 in a way that is different inat least one or more respects than the headphone, while operating in thefirst operating mode, is configured to selectively switch between thefirst and second antennas based on wireless performance metrics.

In one example embodiment, when the first mode of operation of theheadphone is for listening to audio from an audio source (via BLUETOOTHor WI-FI) in a standalone manner (i.e., without synchronizing theplayback of the audio with playback of audio or video by anotherplayback device), the headphone is configured to implement the firstantenna switching policy comprising (i) when first entering thestandalone mode of operation, determining which of the first or secondantenna has better wireless performance metrics (e.g., higher signalstrength, greater SNR, lower packet loss) based on an initial wirelesssignal assessment, (ii) selecting, from the first and second antennas,the antenna having the better wireless performance metrics, (iii)controlling the switching circuitry 246 to connect the transceiver 364to the selected antenna, and (iv) continuing to receive audio data viathe selected antenna for the duration of the listening session.

And after switching from operating in the first operating mode (thestandalone BLUETOOTH mode) to operating in a second operating mode(e.g., a synchronized WI-FI mode of operation for playing home theateraudio), the headphone is configured to implement the second antennaswitching policy comprising (i) determining which of the first or secondantenna has better wireless performance metrics (e.g., higher signalstrength, greater SNR, lower packet loss) based on a wireless signalassessment, (ii) in response to determining that the wirelessperformance metrics for the currently selected antenna are better (or insome embodiments, not worse by some threshold amount, e.g., worse by10%, 20%, or some other suitable threshold) than the wirelessperformance metrics of the non-selected antenna, continuing to receivewireless signals via the selected antenna, (iii) in response todetermining that the wireless performance metrics for the non-selectedantenna are better (or in some embodiments, better by some thresholdamount, e.g., better by 10%, 20%, or some other suitable threshold) thanthe wireless performance metrics of the currently-selected antenna,(iii-a) selecting the other antenna and (iii-b) controlling theswitching circuitry 246 to connect the transceiver 364 to the selectedother antenna, and (iv) after some duration of time (e.g. between about10 ms and a few seconds, between about 10 ms and 1 second, between about10-500 ms, between about 10-100 ms, or between about 10-50 ms) repeatingsteps (i) through (iv).

The above-described example illustrates an embodiment where the firstmode of operation is the standalone BLUETOOTH mode of operation and thesecond mode of operation is the synchronized WI-FI home theater mode ofoperation, persons of skill in the art would readily recognize that thefirst and second modes of operation could be any two different modes ofoperation disclosed herein.

VII. Conclusion

The above discussions relating to playback devices, controller devices,playback zone configurations, and media content sources provide onlysome examples of operating environments within which functions andmethods described below may be implemented. Other operating environmentsand configurations of media playback systems, playback devices, andnetwork devices not explicitly described herein may also be applicableand suitable for implementation of the functions and methods.

It should be appreciated that the spatial antenna diversity techniquesmay be readily applied to devices separate and apart from playbackdevices and/or NMDs. For example, the techniques described herein may beemployed in wearable devices separate and apart from headphone devicessuch as a pair of smart glasses. Implementing a robust communicationsystem in a pair of smart glasses may present similar problems to thosedescribed above with respect to headphones (e.g., close proximity to thehuman head during use). Accordingly, the spatial antenna diversitytechniques described herein may be readily applied to offer improvedwireless performance. In such a smart glasses implementation, the smartglasses may comprise a housing including a frame front (e.g., configuredto hold one or more lenses), a first temple rotatably coupled to theframe front, and a second temple rotatable coupled to the frame front.The antenna 244 a may be at least partially disposed in the first temple(e.g., disposed on a first side of a subject’s head during use) and theantenna 244 b may be at least partially disposed in the second temple(e.g., disposed on a second side of the subject’s head that is oppositethe first side during use). The communication circuitry 247 and/or theswitching circuitry 246 may be disposed in the housing in any suitablemanner (e.g., disposed in the frame front, disposed in the left temple,disposed in the right temple, distributed between the frame front andthe temples, etc.).

The description above discloses, among other things, various examplesystems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture including,among other components, firmware and/or software executed on hardware.It is understood that such examples are merely illustrative and shouldnot be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that anyor all of the firmware, hardware, and/or software aspects or componentscan be embodied exclusively in hardware, exclusively in software,exclusively in firmware, or in any combination of hardware, software,and/or firmware. Accordingly, the examples provided are not the onlyways) to implement such systems, methods, apparatus, and/or articles ofmanufacture.

Additionally, references herein to “embodiment” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment can be included in at least one example embodiment of aninvention. The appearances of this phrase in various places in thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment,nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of otherembodiments. As such, the embodiments described herein, explicitly andimplicitly understood by one skilled in the art, can be combined withother embodiments.

The specification is presented largely in terms of illustrativeenvironments, systems, procedures, steps, logic blocks, processing, andother symbolic representations that directly or indirectly resemble theoperations of data processing devices coupled to networks. These processdescriptions and representations are typically used by those skilled inthe art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to othersskilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide athorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it isunderstood to those skilled in the art that certain embodiments of thepresent disclosure can be practiced without certain, specific details.In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, andcircuitry have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring aspects of the embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of thepresent disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than theforegoing description of embodiments.

When any of the appended claims are read to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the elements in at leastone example is hereby expressly defined to include a tangible,non-transitory medium such as a memory, DVD, CD, Blu-ray, and so on,storing the software and/or firmware.

VIII. Example Features

(Feature 1) A headphone device comprising: a housing comprising a firstearpiece and a second earpiece; a first antenna at least partiallydisposed in the first earpiece; a second antenna at least partiallydisposed in the second earpiece; switching circuitry coupled to thefirst antenna and the second antenna, wherein the switching circuitrycomprises a common port and wherein the switching circuitry isconfigured to selectively couple the common port to either the firstantenna or the second antenna; communication circuitry coupled to thecommon port of the switching circuit, wherein the communicationcircuitry is configured to: identify a current mode of operation from aplurality of modes of operation including a first mode of operation anda second mode of operation; cause the headphone device to wirelesslycommunicate with at least one external device based at least in part onthe current mode of operation, wherein causing the headphone device towirelessly communicate comprises: while the current mode of operation isthe first mode of operation, causing the switching circuitry toselectively couple either the first antenna or the second antenna to thecommon port in accordance with a first antenna switching policy; andwhile the current mode of operation is the second mode of operation,causing the switching circuitry to selectively couple either the firstantenna or the second antenna to the common port in accordance with asecond antenna switching policy that is different from the first antennaswitching policy.

(Feature 2) The headphone device of feature 1, wherein the firstoperation mode is a WI-FI operation mode where the headphone devicewirelessly communicates with the at least one external device over a 2.4Gigahertz (GHz) WI-FI communication link or a 5 GHz communication linkand wherein the second operation mode is a BLUETOOTH operation modewhere the headphone device wirelessly communicates with the at least oneexternal device over a BLUETOOTH communication link.

(Feature 3) The headphone device of feature 1, wherein the first mode isa synchronized playback mode where headphone device plays back audiocontent that is synchronized with content output by another device andthe second mode is a non-synchronized playback mode where the headphonedevice plays back audio content that is not synchronized with contentoutput by the other device.

(Feature 4) The headphone device of any of features 1-3, furthercomprising at least one processor coupled to the communication circuitryand wherein the communication circuitry is further configured to:receive one or more messages from the at least one processor indicativeof the current mode of operation; and identify the current mode ofoperation from the plurality of operating modes based on the one or moremessages from the at least one processor.

(Feature 5) The headphone device of any of features 1-4, wherein causingthe switching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antennaor the second antenna to the common port in accordance with the firstantenna switching policy comprises: measuring at least one performanceparameter during a first duration of time while wirelessly communicatingwith the at least one external device using the first antenna;determining whether the at least one performance parameter measuredduring the first duration of time is outside a first operating range;and causing the switching circuitry to couple the second antenna to thecommon port responsive to determining that the at least one performanceparameter measured during the first duration of time is outside thefirst operating range.

(Feature 6) The headphone device of feature 5, wherein causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port in accordance with the secondantenna switching policy comprises: measuring the at least oneperformance parameter during a second duration of time while wirelesslycommunicating with the at least one external device using the firstantenna, wherein the second duration of time is longer than the firstduration of time; determining whether the at least one performanceparameter measured during the second duration of time is outside asecond operating range; and causing the switching circuitry to couplethe second antenna to the common port responsive to determining that theat least one performance metric measured during the second duration oftime is outside the second operating range.

(Feature 7) The headphone device of any of features 1-6, wherein thehousing further comprises a headband, wherein the first earpiececomprises a first member attached to the headband and a second memberthat pivots about an axis relative to the first member and wherein thefirst antenna is at least partially disposed on the axis.

(Feature 8) The headphone device of any of features 1-6, wherein aportion of the first earpiece is rotatable about an axis, and whereinthe first antenna is at least partially disposed in the first earpiecesuch that a position of the first antenna relative to a wearer’s head issubstantially independent of rotation of the portion of the firstearpiece about the axis.

(Feature 9) The headphone device of any of features 1-8, wherein theswitching circuitry is at least partially disposed in the first earpieceand wherein the headphone device further comprises a first transducer atleast partially disposed in the first earpiece, a second transducer atleast partially disposed in the second earpiece, an audio amplifier atleast partially disposed in the first earpiece, and a cable assembly.

(Feature 10) The headphone device of feature 9, wherein the cableassembly comprises: a coaxial cable that couples the second antenna tothe switching circuitry; and one or more conductors that couple thesecond transducer to the audio amplifier.

(Feature 11) The headphone device of feature 10, wherein the cableassembly comprises an outer jacket, wherein the coaxial cable is atleast partially disposed within the outer jacket, and wherein the one ormore conductors are at least partially disposed between the coaxialcable and the outer jacket.

(Feature 12) The headphone device of any of features 1-11, wherein thecommunication circuitry comprises a wireless transceiver and wherein theheadphone device further comprises: an amplifier coupled between thecommon port of a switch and the wireless transceiver; a bypass-switchcoupled in parallel with the amplifier; and a surface acoustic wavefilter coupled between the amplifier and the wireless transceiver.

(Feature 13) The headphone device of any of features 1-12, wherein thefirst antenna is a first passive multi-band antenna and wherein thesecond antenna is a second passive multi-band antenna.

(Feature 14) The headphone device of any of features 1-13, wherein thehousing is selected from a group consisting of: an over-ear housing, anon-ear housing, and an in-ear housing.

(Feature 15) A method of operating a headphone device comprising a firstearpiece and a second earpiece, the method comprising: identifying acurrent mode of operation from a plurality of modes of operationincluding a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation thatis different from the first mode of operation; wirelessly communicatingwith at least one external device based on the current mode ofoperation, wherein wirelessly communicating with the at least oneexternal device comprises: while the current mode of operation is thefirst mode of operation, selectively coupling either a first antenna atleast partially disposed in the first earpiece or a second antenna atleast partially disposed in the second earpiece to communicationcircuitry in accordance with a first antenna switching policy; and whilethe current mode of operation is the second mode of operation,selectively coupling either the first antenna or the second antenna tothe communication circuitry in accordance with a second antennaswitching policy that is different from the first antenna switchingpolicy.

(Feature 16) The method of feature 15, wherein selectively couplingeither the first antenna or the second antenna to the communicationcircuitry in accordance with the first antenna switching policycomprises: measuring at least one performance parameter during a firstduration of time while wirelessly communicating with the at least oneexternal device using the first antenna; determining whether the atleast one performance parameter measured during the first duration oftime is outside a first operating range; and causing the switchingcircuitry to couple the second antenna to the communication circuitryresponsive to determining that the at least one performance parametermeasured during the first duration of time is outside the firstoperating range.

(Feature 17) The method of feature 16, wherein selectively couplingeither the first antenna or the second antenna to the communicationcircuitry in accordance with the second antenna switching policycomprises: measuring the at least one performance parameter during asecond duration of time while wirelessly communicating with the at leastone external device using the first antenna, wherein the second durationof time is longer than the first duration of time; determining whetherthe at least one performance parameter measured during the secondduration of time is outside a second operating range; and causing theswitching circuitry to couple the second antenna to the communicationcircuitry responsive to determining that the at least one performancemetric measured during the second duration of time is outside the secondoperating range.

(Feature 18) A wearable device comprising: a housing configured to beworn about a head of a subject; a plurality of antennas comprising afirst antenna at least partially disposed in the housing and a secondantenna at least partially disposed in the housing, wherein the firstantenna is disposed on a first side of the subject when the wearabledevice is worn about the head, and wherein the second antenna isdisposed on a second side of the subject that is opposite the first sidewhen the wearable device is worn about the head; switching circuitrycoupled to the plurality of antennas, wherein the switching circuitrycomprises a common port and wherein the switching circuitry isconfigured to selectively couple one antenna from the plurality ofantennas to the common port; communication circuitry coupled to thecommon port of the switching circuit, wherein the communicationcircuitry is configured to: identify a current mode of operation from aplurality of modes of operation including a first mode of operation anda second mode of operation that is different from the first mode ofoperation; cause the headphone device to wirelessly communicate with atleast one external device based at least in part on the current mode ofoperation, wherein causing the headphone device to wirelesslycommunicate comprises: while the current mode of operation is the firstmode of operation, causing the switching circuitry to selectively coupleone antenna from the plurality of antennas to the common port inaccordance with a first antenna switching policy; and while the currentmode of operation is the second mode of operation, causing the switchingcircuitry to selectively couple one antenna from the plurality ofantennas to the common port in accordance with a second antennaswitching policy that is different from the first antenna switchingpolicy.

(Feature 19) The wearable device of feature 18, wherein the wearabledevice is a headphone device and wherein the housing is selected fromthe group consisting of: an over-ear housing, an on-ear housing, and anin-ear housing.

(Feature 20) The wearable device of feature 18, wherein the housingfurther comprises a first earpiece, a second earpiece, a headbandattached to the first earpiece and the second earpiece and wherein thefirst antenna is at least partially disposed in the headband.

(Feature 21) The wearable device of feature 18, wherein the wearabledevice is a pair of smart glasses and wherein the housing comprises aframe front, a first temple rotatably coupled to the frame front, and asecond temple rotatable coupled to the frame front.

(Feature 22) The wearable device of feature 21, wherein the firstantenna is at least partially disposed in the first temple and thesecond antenna is at least partially disposed in the second temple.

(Feature 23) A headphone device comprising: a first earpiece; a secondearpiece; a headband attached to the first earpiece and the secondearpiece; a communication circuitry at least partially housed by thefirst earpiece; a first antenna at least partially housed by the firstearpiece, wherein the first antenna is coupled to the communicationcircuit; a transducer at least partially housed by the second earpiece;a second antenna at least partially housed by the second earpiece; and acable assembly at least partially housed by the headband, wherein thecable assembly comprises a plurality of conductors including: one ormore first conductors that couple the second antenna to thecommunication circuit; and one or more second conductors that couple thetransducer to at least one electronic component at least partiallyhoused in the first earpiece.

(Feature 24) The headphone device of feature 23, wherein the cableassembly comprises a coaxial cable including the one or more firstconductors.

(Feature 25) The headphone device of feature 24, wherein the cableassembly is a single cable bundle comprising an outer jacket and whereinthe coaxial cable is an inner coaxial cable disposed at least partiallywithin the outer jacket.

(Feature 26) The headphone device of feature 25, wherein the one or moresecond conductors are disposed at least partially between the innercoaxial cable and the outer jacket.

(Feature 27) The headphone device of any of features 25 and 26, whereinthe outer cable jacket has an outer diameter between 2.5 millimeters and4.5 millimeters.

(Feature 28) The headphone device of feature 23, wherein the cableassembly comprises a first cable and a second cable, wherein the one ormore first conductors are integrated into the first cable and the one ormore second conductors are integrated into the second cable.

(Feature 29) The headphone device of any of features 23-28, wherein thecable assembly has a length between 400 millimeters and 600 millimeters.

(Feature 30) The headphone device of any of features 23-29, wherein theplurality of conductors consists of between 14 conductors and 22conductors.

(Feature 31) The headphone device of any of features 23-30, wherein atleast some of the plurality of conductors are stranded conductors.

(Feature 32) The headphone device of any of features 23-31, wherein theplurality of conductors further includes two conductors arranged in atwisted pair.

(Feature 33) The headphone device of any of features 23-32, wherein theheadphone device is an on-ear headphone device or an over-ear headphonedevice.

(Feature 34) A headphone device comprising: a first earpiece; a secondearpiece; a headband attached to the first earpiece and the secondearpiece; a wireless transceiver at least partially housed by the firstearpiece; a first antenna at least partially housed by the firstearpiece, wherein the first antenna is coupled to the wirelesstransceiver; a transducer at least partially housed by the secondearpiece; a second antenna at least partially housed by the secondearpiece; a cable assembly at least partially housed by the headband;and a first splitter comprising a first port coupled to the firstantenna, a second port coupled to the second antenna, and a third portcoupled to the wireless transceiver.

(Feature 35) The headphone device of feature 34, further comprising asecond splitter comprising a first port coupled to the first antenna, asecond port coupled to the second antenna, and a third port coupled tothe wireless transceiver.

(Feature 36) The headphone device of feature 35, wherein the firstsplitter has a different construction than the second splitter.

(Feature 37) A headphone device comprising: a housing comprising a firstearpiece, a second earpiece, and a headband attached to the firstearpiece and the second earpiece, wherein the first earpiece comprises afirst member and a second member, wherein the second member is attachedto the headband and the first member pivots about an axis relative tothe second member; a first antenna at least partially housed by thefirst earpiece, wherein the first antenna is at least partially disposedon the axis; and a second antenna at least partially housed by thesecond earpiece.

(Feature 38) The headphone device of feature 37, wherein at least one ofthe first antenna or the second antenna is a passive multi-band antenna.

(Feature 39) The headphone device of feature 37, wherein at least one ofthe first antenna or the second antenna is an active multi-band antenna.

(Feature 40) The headphone device of any of features 37-39, wherein thefirst antenna is at least partially disposed in the first member.

(Feature 41) A playback device comprising: a wireless transceiver; afirst antenna; and a second antenna; a first splitter comprising a firstport coupled to the first antenna, a second port coupled to the secondantenna, and a third port coupled to the wireless transceiver; at leastone audio amplifier configured to drive at least one transducer; atleast one processor coupled to the wireless transceiver; at least onenon-transitory computer-readable medium; and program instructions storedon the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium that areexecutable by the at least one processor such that the playback deviceis configured to: after receipt of audio content via the wirelesstransceiver, playback the audio content using the at least one audioamplifier.

(Feature 42) The playback device of feature 41, further comprising asecond splitter comprising a first port coupled to the first antenna, asecond port coupled to the second antenna, and a third port coupled tothe wireless transceiver.

(Feature 43) The playback device of feature 42, wherein the firstsplitter has a different construction than the second splitter.

(Feature 44) A playback device comprising: at least one audio amplifierconfigured to drive at least one transducer; at least one processor; afirst antenna; a second antenna; switching circuitry coupled to thefirst antenna and the second antenna, wherein the switching circuitrycomprises a common port and wherein the switching circuitry isconfigured to selectively couple the common port to either the firstantenna or the second antenna; communication circuitry coupled to the atleast one processor and to the common port of the switching circuit,wherein the communication circuitry is configured to cause the playbackdevice to wirelessly communicate with at least one external device basedat least in part on a current operation mode selected from a pluralityof operation modes, wherein causing the playback device to wirelesslycommunicate comprises: while in a first operation mode of the pluralityof operation modes, causing the switching circuitry to selectivelycouple either the first antenna or the second antenna to the common portin accordance with a first antenna switching policy; and while in asecond operation mode of the plurality of operation modes, causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port in accordance with a secondantenna switching policy that is different from the first antennaswitching policy; at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium;and program instructions stored on the at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that are executable by the at least oneprocessor such that the playback device is configured to: after receiptof audio content via the communication circuitry, playback the audiocontent using the at least one audio amplifier.

(Feature 45) A headphone device comprising: a first earpiece; a secondearpiece; a first antenna at least partially disposed in the firstearpiece; a second antenna at least partially disposed in the secondearpiece; switching circuitry coupled to the first antenna and thesecond antenna, wherein the switching circuitry comprises a common portand wherein the switching circuitry is configured to selectively couplethe common port to either the first antenna or the second antenna;communication circuitry coupled to the common port of the switchingcircuit, wherein the communication circuitry is configured to cause theheadphone device to wirelessly communicate with at least one externaldevice based at least in part on a current operation mode (e.g., acurrent operation mode of the headphone device and/or one or morecomponents of the headphone device such as the communication circuitry)from a plurality of operation modes, wherein causing the headphonedevice to wirelessly communicate comprises: while the current operationmode is a first operation mode of the plurality of operation modes,causing the switching circuitry to selectively couple either the firstantenna or the second antenna to the common port in accordance with afirst antenna switching policy; and while the current operation mode isa second operation mode of the plurality of operation modes, causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port in accordance with a secondantenna switching policy that is different from the first antennaswitching policy.

(Feature 46) The headphone device of feature 45, wherein the firstoperation mode is a WI-FI operation mode where the headphone devicewirelessly communicates with the at least one external device over a 2.4Gigahertz (GHz) WI-FI communication link or a 5 GHz communication linkand wherein the second operation mode is a BLUETOOTH operation modewhere the headphone device wirelessly communicates with the at least oneexternal device over a BLUETOOTH communication link.

(Feature 47) The headphone device of feature 45, wherein the firstoperation mode is a synchronized playback mode where headphone deviceplays back audio content that is synchronized with content output byanother device and the second operation mode is a non-synchronizedplayback mode where the headphone plays back audio content that is notsynchronized with content output by the other device.

(Feature 48) The headphone device of feature 45, further comprising atleast one processor coupled to the communication circuitry and whereinthe communication circuitry is further configured to receive one or moremessages from the at least one processor indicative of the currentoperation mode and identify the current operation mode from theplurality of operating modes based on the one or more messages from theat least one processor.

(Feature 49) The headphone device of feature 45, wherein causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port in accordance with the firstantenna switching policy comprises: measuring at least one performanceparameter during a first duration of time while wirelessly communicatingwith the at least one external device using the first antenna;determining whether the at least one performance parameter measuredduring the first duration of time is outside a first operating range;and causing the switching circuitry to couple the second antenna to thecommon port when the at least one performance parameter measured duringthe first duration of time is outside the first operating range.

(Feature 50) The headphone device of feature 49, wherein causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port in accordance with the secondantenna switching policy comprises: measuring the at least oneperformance parameter during a second duration of time while wirelesslycommunicating with the at least one external device using the firstantenna, wherein the second duration of time is longer than the firstduration of time; determining whether the at least one performanceparameter measured during the second duration of time is outside asecond operating range; and causing the switching circuitry to couplethe second antenna to the common port when the at least one performancemetric measured during the second duration of time is outside the secondoperating range.

(Feature 51) The headphone device of feature 45, further comprising aheadband, wherein the first earpiece comprises a first member attachedto the headband and a second member that pivots about an axis relativeto the first member and wherein the first antenna is at least partiallydisposed on the axis.

(Feature 52) The headphone device of feature 45, wherein a portion ofthe first earpiece is rotatable about an axis, and wherein the firstantenna is at least partially disposed in the first earpiece such that aposition of the first antenna relative to a head of a wearer issubstantially independent of rotation of the portion of the firstearpiece about the axis.

(Feature 53) The headphone device of feature 45, wherein the switchingcircuitry is at least partially disposed in the first earpiece andwherein the headphone device further comprises: a first transducer atleast partially disposed in the first earpiece; a second transducer atleast partially disposed in the second earpiece; an audio amplifier atleast partially disposed in the first earpiece; and a cable assembly.

(Feature 54) The headphone device of feature 53, wherein the cableassembly comprises: a coaxial cable that couples the second antenna tothe switching circuitry; and one or more conductors that couple thesecond transducer to the audio amplifier.

(Feature 55) The headphone device of feature 54, wherein the cableassembly comprises an outer jacket, wherein the coaxial cable is atleast partially disposed within the outer jacket, and wherein the one ormore conductors are at least partially disposed between the coaxialcable and the outer jacket.

(Feature 56) The headphone device of feature 45, wherein thecommunication circuitry comprises: a wireless transceiver (e.g., acombined BLUETOOTH and WI-FI transceiver); an amplifier coupled betweenthe common port of a switch and the wireless transceiver; abypass-switch coupled in parallel with the amplifier; and a first filter(e.g., surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter) coupled between the amplifierand the wireless transceiver.

(Feature 57) The headphone device of feature 56, wherein thecommunication circuitry further comprises: a switch having a first portcoupled to the wireless transceiver, a second port coupled to theamplifier, and a third port coupled to the common port of the switchingcircuitry; and a second filter (e.g., a band-pass filter (BPF)) coupledbetween the wireless transceiver and the first port of the switch.

(Feature 58) The headphone device of feature 45, wherein at least one ofthe first antenna or the second antenna comprises a passive antenna(e.g., a passive multi-band antenna or a passive single-band antenna).

(Feature 59) A method of operating a headphone device comprising a firstearpiece and a second earpiece, the method comprising: wirelesslycommunicating with at least one external device to obtain audio contentbased on a current operation mode from a plurality of operation modes,wherein wirelessly communicating with the at least one external devicecomprises: while the current mode of operation is a first operation modeof the plurality of operation modes, selectively coupling either a firstantenna at least partially disposed in the first earpiece or a secondantenna at least partially disposed in the second earpiece tocommunication circuitry in accordance with a first antenna switchingpolicy; and while the current mode of operation is a second operationmode of the plurality of operation modes, selectively coupling eitherthe first antenna or the second antenna to the communication circuitryin accordance with a second antenna switching policy that is differentfrom the first antenna switching policy; and playing back the audiocontent using a first transducer at least partially disposed in thefirst earpiece and a second transducer at least partially disposed inthe second earpiece.

(Feature 60) The method of feature 59, wherein selectively couplingeither the first antenna or the second antenna to the communicationcircuitry in accordance with the first antenna switching policycomprises: measuring at least one performance parameter during a firstduration of time while wirelessly communicating with the at least oneexternal device using the first antenna; determining whether the atleast one performance parameter measured during the first duration oftime is outside a first operating range; and causing the switchingcircuitry to couple the second antenna to the communication circuitrywhen the at least one performance parameter measured during the firstduration of time is outside the first operating range.

(Feature 61) The method of feature 60, wherein selectively couplingeither the first antenna or the second antenna to the communicationcircuitry in accordance with the second antenna switching policycomprises: measuring the at least one performance parameter during asecond duration of time while wirelessly communicating with the at leastone external device using the first antenna, wherein the second durationof time is longer than the first duration of time; determining whetherthe at least one performance parameter measured during the secondduration of time is outside a second operating range; and causing theswitching circuitry to couple the second antenna to the communicationcircuitry when the at least one performance metric measured during thesecond duration of time is outside the second operating range.

(Feature 62) A wearable device comprising: a housing configured to beworn about a head of a subject; a first antenna at least partiallydisposed in the housing, wherein the first antenna is disposed on afirst side of the subject when the wearable device is worn about thehead; a second antenna at least partially disposed in the housing,wherein the second antenna is disposed on a second side of the subjectthat is opposite the first side when the wearable device is worn aboutthe head; switching circuitry coupled to the first antenna and thesecond antenna, wherein the switching circuitry comprises a common portand wherein the switching circuitry is configured to selectively coupleeither the first antenna or the second antenna to the common port;communication circuitry coupled to the common port of the switchingcircuit, wherein the communication circuitry is configured to cause theheadphone device to wirelessly communicate with at least one externaldevice based at least in part on a current operation mode from aplurality of operation modes, wherein causing the headphone device towirelessly communicate comprises: while the current operation mode is afirst operation mode of the plurality of operation modes, causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port in accordance with a first antennaswitching policy; and while the current operation mode is a secondoperation mode of the plurality of operation modes, causing theswitching circuitry to selectively couple either the first antenna orthe second antenna to the common port in accordance with a secondantenna switching policy that is different from the first antennaswitching policy.

(Feature 63) The wearable device of feature 62, wherein the wearabledevice is a headphone device and wherein the housing is one of: anover-ear housing, an on-ear housing, or an in-ear housing.

(Feature 64) The wearable device of feature 62, wherein the housingfurther comprises a first earpiece, a second earpiece, a headbandattached to the first earpiece and the second earpiece and wherein thefirst antenna is at least partially disposed in the headband.

(Feature 65) A headphone device comprising: a headband; a first earpieceattached to the headband, wherein at least a portion of the firstearpiece is rotatable about an axis (e.g., relative to the headband); asecond earpiece attached to the headband; a first transducer at leastpartially disposed in the first earpiece; a second transducer at leastpartially disposed in the second earpiece; an antenna at least partiallydisposed in the first earpiece, wherein at least a portion of theantenna is disposed on the axis; communication circuitry coupled to theantenna and configured to facilitate communication via one or more datanetworks; at least one processor coupled to the communication circuitry;at least one non-transitory computer readable medium; programinstructions stored on the at least one non-transitory computer-readablemedium that are executable by the at least one processor such that theheadphone device is configured to: after receipt of audio content viathe one or more data networks, playback the audio content using thefirst and second transducers.

(Feature 66) The headphone device of feature 65, wherein the firstearpiece comprises a first member attached to the headband and a secondmember that pivots about the axis.

(Feature 67) A headphone device comprising: a headband; a first earpieceattached to the headband, wherein at least a portion of the firstearpiece is rotatable about an axis; a second earpiece attached to theheadband; a first transducer at least partially disposed in the firstearpiece; a second transducer at least partially disposed in the secondearpiece; an antenna at least partially disposed in the first earpiece,wherein the antenna is at least partially disposed in the first earpiecesuch that a position of the antenna relative to a head of a wearer issubstantially independent of rotation of the at least the portion of thefirst earpiece about the axis; communication circuitry coupled to theantenna and configured to facilitate communication via one or more datanetworks; at least one processor coupled to the communication circuitry;at least one non-transitory computer readable medium; programinstructions stored on the at least one non-transitory computer-readablemedium that are executable by the at least one processor such that theheadphone device is configured to: after receipt of audio content viathe one or more data networks, playback the audio content using thefirst and second transducers.

What is claimed is:
 1. A headphone device comprising: a headband; afirst earpiece coupled to the headband and at least partially housing afirst plurality of electrical components, wherein the first plurality ofelectrical components comprises: a first transducer; a first antenna; asecond antenna; a third antenna; communication circuitry coupled to thefirst, second, and third antennas and configured to facilitate wirelesscommunication using a plurality of communication protocols including afirst communication protocol and a second communication protocol;switching circuitry coupled between the communication circuitry and atleast two of the first, second, or third antennas; at least oneprocessor; and at least one computer readable medium storinginstructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause theheadphone device to: operate in a first mode wherein the headphonedevice receives first audio content from an external device using thefirst communication protocol and renders the first audio content; andoperate in a second mode wherein the headphone device receives secondaudio content from a playback device using the second communicationprotocol and renders the second audio content in lip-synchrony withplayback of visual content output by the playback device, wherein theswitching circuitry is controlled in accordance with an antennaswitching policy during receipt of the second audio content; and asecond earpiece coupled to the headband and at least partially housing asecond plurality of electrical components, wherein the second pluralityof electrical components comprises a second transducer.
 2. The headphonedevice of claim 1, further comprising a cable assembly at leastpartially housed by the headband, wherein the cable assembly comprises:a plurality of conductors including at least one conductor electricallycoupling at least one electrical component of the first plurality ofelectrical components to at least one electrical component of the secondplurality of electrical components; and an outer jacket at leastpartially enclosing the plurality of conductors.
 3. The headphone deviceof claim 1, wherein the switching circuitry includes a first portcoupled to the first antenna, a second port coupled to the secondantenna, and a common port coupled to the communication circuitry, andwherein the switching circuitry is configured to selectively couple thecommon port to either the first antenna or the second antenna.
 4. Theheadphone device of claim 3, wherein, to operate in the second mode, theheadphone device receives the second audio via at least one of the firstantenna or the second antenna.
 5. The headphone device of claim 4,wherein the second communication protocol is a WI-FI protocol.
 6. Theheadphone device of claim 5, wherein the first communication protocol isa BLUETOOTH protocol.
 7. The headphone device of claim 6, wherein tooperate in the first mode, the headphone device receives the first audiocontent via the third antenna.
 8. The headphone device of claim 7,wherein the communication circuitry includes a WI-FI transceiver coupledto the switching circuitry and a BLUETOOTH transceiver coupled to thethird antenna.
 9. The headphone device of claim 1, wherein the secondplurality of electrical components further comprises a battery.
 10. Theheadphone device of claim 1, wherein the first earpiece is rotatableabout an axis relative to the headband.
 11. A headphone devicecomprising: a headband; a first earpiece coupled to the headband and atleast partially housing a first plurality of electrical components,wherein the first plurality of electrical components comprises: a firsttransducer; a first antenna; a second antenna; a third antenna;switching circuitry having a first port coupled to the first antenna, asecond port coupled to the second antenna, and a common port, andwherein the switching circuitry is configured to selectively couple thecommon port to either the first antenna or the second antenna;communication circuitry coupled to the common port of the switchingcircuitry and to the third antenna, wherein the communication circuitryis configured to facilitate wireless communication using a plurality ofcommunication protocols; at least one processor coupled to thecommunication circuitry; and at least one computer readable mediumstoring instructions that when executed by the at least one processorcause the headphone device to: operate in a first mode wherein theheadphone device receives first audio content from a first externaldevice, using a first communication protocol of the plurality ofcommunication protocols, and renders the first audio content; andoperate in a second mode wherein the headphone device receives secondaudio content from a second external device, using a secondcommunication protocol of the plurality of communication protocols, andrenders the second audio content in lip-synchrony with playback ofvisual content by a video device in communication with the secondexternal device, wherein receiving the second audio content includescontrolling the switching circuitry to selectively couple either thefirst antenna or the second antenna to the common port in accordancewith an antenna switching policy; and a second earpiece coupled to theheadband and at least partially housing a second plurality of electricalcomponents, wherein the second plurality of electrical componentscomprises a second transducer.
 12. The headphone device of claim 11,further comprising a cable assembly at least partially housed by theheadband, wherein the cable assembly comprises: a plurality ofconductors including at least one conductor electrically coupling atleast one electrical component of the first plurality of electricalcomponents to at least one electrical component of the second pluralityof electrical components; and an outer jacket at least partiallyenclosing the plurality of conductors.
 13. The headphone device of claim11, wherein the first communication protocol is a BLUETOOTH protocol,and wherein the second communication protocol is a WI-FI protocol. 14.The headphone device of claim 11, wherein the second external device isa home theatre controller.
 15. The headphone device of claim 11, whereinthe second plurality of electrical components further comprises abattery.
 16. The headphone device of claim 11, further comprising a userinterface disposed at least partially within at least one of the firstearpiece or the second earpiece, and wherein the at least one computerreadable medium further stores instructions that when executed by the atleast one processor cause the headphone device to select an operatingmode from the first mode and the second mode based on an input receivedvia the user interface.
 17. A headphone device comprising: a headband; afirst earpiece coupled to the headband and at least partially housing afirst plurality of electrical components, wherein the first plurality ofelectrical components comprises: a first transducer; a first antenna; asecond antenna; a third antenna; communication circuitry coupled to thefirst, second, and third antennas, wherein the communication circuitryis configured to facilitate wireless communication using a plurality ofcommunication protocols; switching circuitry coupled between thecommunication circuitry and at least two of the first, second, or thirdantennas; at least one processor coupled to the communication circuitry;and at least one computer readable medium storing instructions that whenexecuted by the at least one processor cause the headphone device to:operate in a first mode wherein the headphone device receives firstaudio content from a first external device, using a first communicationprotocol of the plurality of communication protocols, and renders thefirst audio content; and operate in a second mode wherein the headphonedevice receives second audio content from a second external device,using a second communication protocol of the plurality of communicationprotocols, and renders the second audio content in lip-synchrony withplayback of visual content by a video device in communication with thesecond external device, wherein the switching circuitry is controlled inaccordance with an antenna switching policy during receipt of the secondaudio content; a second earpiece coupled to the headband and at leastpartially housing a second plurality of electrical components, whereinthe second plurality of electrical components comprises a secondtransducer; and a cable assembly at least partially housed by theheadband, wherein the cable assembly comprises at least one at least oneconductor electrically coupling at least one electrical component of thefirst plurality of electrical components to at least one electricalcomponent of the second plurality of electrical components.
 18. Theheadphone device of claim 17, wherein the switching circuitry includes afirst port coupled to the first antenna, a second port coupled to thesecond antenna, and a common port coupled to the communicationcircuitry, and wherein the switching circuitry is configured toselectively couple the common port to either the first antenna or thesecond antenna.
 19. The headphone device of claim 18, wherein, tooperate in the second mode, the headphone device receives the secondaudio via at least one of the first antenna or the second antenna; andwherein to operate in the first mode, the headphone device receives thefirst audio content via the third antenna.
 20. The headphone device ofclaim 19, wherein the first communication protocol is a BLUETOOTHprotocol and wherein the second communication protocol is a WI-FIprotocol.